A thug was this week jailed for a year and eight months for crimes which included causing a disturbance in the close of a block of Alva flats.
Forty-nine-year-old Gary Kelly, had admitted behaving in a threatening and abusive manner at The Nethergate, Alva, on July 23, 2021 and assaulting a police officer there on the same date by spitting on him.
Kelly further pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting a man at a house in Grangemouth on February 6 this year to his injury with a metal pole – normally used to hold dumbbells – and rendering the man unconscious, while on bail on two other matters.
Fiscal depute Danielle McDonald told Stirling Sheriff Court on Wednesday that police had received a call about Kelly causing a disturbance at The Nethergate block of flats on July 23, 2021.
Officers attended and found Kelly intoxicated and causing a disturbance. He was asked to desist, but took no notice.
Kelly, said the fiscal depute, swore at the officers and called them abusive names as well as making violent threats.
Kelly also spat on an officer’s legs before being arrested and taken to Falkirk Police Office.
The Grangemouth incident occurred in the early hours.
A male had been asleep in the bathroom of the property. Kelly arrived at 2.30am and approached the male with a metal pole.
He struck him “at least five times” when he lost consciousness.
The female householder was heard to scream and others left. She also asked Kelly to leave.
The male, said Ms McDonald, was mildly concussed and had cuts to his head.
Kelly appeared at Stirling Sheriff Court on Wednesday via videolink from Low Moss Prison.
His lawyer told Sheriff Keith O’Mahony that his client had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity – on a section 76 indictment – and had been in custody on the matter since March 2 this year.
Kelly, he added, had been anxious to plead guilty and accepted full responsibility for his actions.
Sheriff O’Mahony said charges of assaulting a police officer and assault rendering a man unconscious had to be treated seriously by the court. There was no alternative to a custodial sentence.
He jailed Kelly for 20 months, reduced from 30 months, to reflect the early plea of guilty. Three months of the jail term was attributable to the bail aggravations.
