A shop assistant was left hysterical and sobbing after an attempted robbery, Perth Sheriff Court has heard.
Almost insensible through alcohol and substance misuse, Liam McMeechan lunged across the counter at RS McColl on the city’s High Street, demanding that the woman open the till.
He eventually left empty-handed after she resisted his attempts to make off with the store’s takings and she was able to contact the police.
The offence saw McMeechan sent to detention for 28 months, but the court heard the sentence would not begin for some time.
The 19-year-old, who has lived something of a transient life, committing offences across the country, is already serving a 41-month sentence.
He was detained by Dumfries Sheriff Court after admitting stealing a woman’s car while she was stopped at traffic lights in the village of Canobie in October 2011.
His 67-year-old victim was injured in the incident and left so scared that she is now uncertain of travelling on her own.
Speaking at Perth yesterday, McMeechan’s agent told the court: “He was 18 at the time of this offence and has little recollection of what happened.
“He had consumed a significant quantity of valium and alcohol and, while he remembers arriving in Perth on this day, his next recollection is waking up in police custody.
“This must have been an extremely frightening experience for his victim and through me he wishes to apologise for what happened. The incident was, however, over fairly quickly and the level of violence was towards the lower level, without injury or use of a weapon.”
During the case, the court viewed brief CCTV footage of the incident, which saw the teen enter the shop and lay a number of men’s magazines on the counter.
He could be seen attempting to grab the assistant and then trying to punch her, all the while shouting “open the till”, before grabbing one of his magazines and trying to scan it in a bid to open the cash drawer.
“At this point, the complainer reached for a mobile telephone and the accused just calmly walked out empty-handed,” said depute fiscal Charmaine Cole.
“The entire incident happened very quickly it took less than a minute. The assistant was able to give a good description of the accused to the police and this, coupled with the CTV footage from the store, enabled officers to trace him nearby. He was arrested and kept in custody.”
McMeechan, who was most recently living in Edinburgh but who is now described as a prisoner at HMP Polmont, admitted attempting to seize hold of his victim, repeatedly attempting to punch her and seizing hold of her wrist, attempting unsuccessfully to open the cash register, repeatedly demanding that she do so and attempting to rob the woman of a sum of money on January 15 this year.
Sheriff Michael Fletcher told the accused: “This is an offence that undoubtedly took place very quickly, but it would obviously have been a very frightening experience for the staff member. It was also committed while you were on bail for a similar offence and, to my mind, there is no alternative to custody.”
He said the detention would commence at the expiry of his current sentence and would be followed by a year-long supervised release.