News / Sheriff slams Thule Bar over drinking
SHERIFF Graeme Napier has called for a Lerwick pub to be reported to the licensing authority after a teenager was arrested for threatening behaviour last month when he was barely able to stand after drinking 20 “shots”.
Lerwick Sheriff Court heard on Wednesday that 18 year old Trevor Couper, of Schoolhouse, Voe, went to the Thule Bar at noon on 12 December to celebrate his friend being released from custody.
Six hours later the police were called to take him away after he shouted and swore and threatened to stab and slash bar staff.
On Wednesday Couper pled guilty to threatening and abusive behaviour, which included threatening police officers with violence, and to assaulting a constable at Lerwick police station by spitting at him.
Defence agent Tommy Allan said that his client’s behaviour had been “pretty atrocious”, quoting the police as saying “he could barely stand”.
Mr Allan asked him to be released on bail, saying he had undergone “a severe shock” at Polmont young offenders’ institute in Falkirk while on remand for the past month, because of the treatment he received from fellow inmates.
Sheriff Graeme Napier said he would give Couper another chance after hearing he had been offered a job, but warned that he was running out of chances having been given every community disposal in the book for a string of previous offences.
He placed Couper on a night time curfew at his address in Voe as well as another address in the village, and banned him from setting foot within Lerwick’s 30mph speed limit apart from attending appointments until he appears for sentence next month.
However the sheriff reserved his main criticism for the Thule Bar, saying he hoped it was reported to the licensing authority for the incident.
When told Couper could barely stand because he was so drunk when he was arrested, the sheriff said: “If that’s correct and there is no reason to doubt it, quite frankly it’s disgraceful he was allowed to get into that condition in a public bar.
“I have made such comments since I came to Shetland and no doubt I will do so until I leave, but the attitude to alcohol in Shetland is quite frankly disgraceful.”
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