Man stole car to drive to Invergordon party
A 21-year-old Inverness man who stole a car then drove to a party in Invergordon and back again, has been jailed for eight months at Inverness Sheriff Court today.
Sheriff David Stewart was told Ian Grant, who also admitted resisting arrest and two charges of police assault and refusing to provide a breath sample, took the car from outside a property in Dochfour Drive, Inverness, on the night of September 16.
The vehicle had been left with its keys in the ignition by its owner.
Depute fiscal Stewart Maciver said the owner intended only to be a couple of minutes when he went to visit someone in Dochfour Drive but stayed longer than intended.
When he returned to his vehicle, it was gone.
Mr Maciver said Grant, of Rosehaugh Road, Inverness, attended the party at a house in Invergordon, at 11pm, where he told people he had stolen a vehicle from Inverness.
The fiscal said people could see he was under the influence of drink and the matter was reported to police when he left.
The vehicle was later found abandoned in Inverness and Grant was traced in Rosehaugh Road at 3.30am.
Mr Maciver said he began struggling with officers, kicking out at one of them and attempting to head butt him, then attempted to spit at another officer but missed.
At Burnett Road police station he was later asked to provide a breath sample but he refused to co-operate with the procedure, refusing to come out of his cell and give a sample.
Appearing from custody Grant admitted resisting arrest, two charges of police assault, taking the car without the owner’s permission and refusing to provide a breath sample.
Grant’s solicitor Aileen Macinnes said there was little she could add to the events as stated by the fiscal.
She told Sheriff Stewart Grant was a vulnerable young man who again found himself before the courts.
“He has been in difficulties with the law since an early age. He lost both his parents in tragic circumstances at an early age. Relatives have been supportive to him when they can. But he is a vulnerable individual who presses the self destruct button.”
She said he had a drink problem and he had been released from custody just before these offences and had taken drink, then lost control and acted in the manner described.
She asked the court to take into account he was trying to make a better life for himself and was willing to carry out a community based sentence.
Sheriff Stewart however told Grant: “It genuinely gives the court no satisfaction to send someone like you to custody.”
He said Grant had a pattern of being released then landing up in custody and that was going to continue.
“You are going to waste a large part of your life in custody and it’s only you who can change that if you accept the support that is available.”
As well as jailing him for eight months backdated to September 19 when he was remanded, the sheriff banned him from driving for a year.
