A drunk repeat offender has been jailed after telling cops that his “spit is deadly”.
Boozed-up Robert Fraser got himself into bother on October 26 last year when he challenged four men to a fight in Paisley’s Causeyside Street.
The 50-year-old threatened to blow up Blend coffee shop and was “significantly” assaulted by a man he was threatening to fight with.
Due to suffering substantial injuries, cops took Fraser to the town’s Royal Alexandra Hospital for treatment where he made threats to spit in their eyes, stating it was “deadly”.
Prosecutor Dana Barclay told Paisley Sheriff Court the four witnesses – who are all unknown to Fraser – were within a cafe when he showed up trying to start a fight.
Ms Barclay explained: “Around 7pm, Fraser attended and began to challenge people to a fight. Fraser focused his aggression on one of the males stating, ‘I’m going to blow this place up’.
“At this point, the accused was assaulted by another male, causing quite significant injuries and this was reported to police. As a result, police were actioned to attend and Fraser began to shout and swear, stating, ‘I’m going to f*****g kill youse’ and ‘I’m diseased’.
“The accused was taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital for treatment when he began to threaten to spit on police officers, stating, ‘my spit is deadly, I’m going to spit in your eye’.
“A spit hood was placed on the accused which was removed while in the hospital. Fraser tried to move his head and attempt to spit at officers, who avoided it, and the spit landed on the floor.
“Due to his level of intoxication and aggressive behaviour, he was not cautioned and charged at this time.”
Define agent Kirsty McGeehan told how Fraser has a “lengthy schedule” due to his “long-standing addiction issues”.
Ms McGeehan explained Fraser was having housing difficulties at the time of the incident and said: “He was in and out of accommodation and was homeless. He was self-medicating with alcohol.
“On this day, he was intoxicated and made a nuisance of himself. He attended at Blend cafe and was shouting and balling and he was assaulted quite significantly.
“I saw him in the custody court the following day and the swelling on his head was quite significant. He has no recollection of this due to his level of intoxication.”
Sentencing, Sheriff Brian Mohan said: “Your record tells the tale of you having addiction problems and causing disturbances and receiving short prison sentences as a result.”
Sheriff Mohan saw no alternative to a custodial sentence and jailed Fraser, described as a prisoner of Kilmarnock prison, East Ayrshire, for a total of 12 months. This was backdated to his remand date of October.
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