Teen (15) headbutted for littering at Belladrum festival
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A 15-year-old boy was headbutted on the nose at a Highland music festival by a drunk man upset at the teenager littering the venue.
But Inverness Sheriff Court heard that the youngster had thrown an empty coffee cup aiming at the litter bin in Belladrum, near Beauly on July 29, last year but missed.
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However, before he picked it up, fiscal depute Naomi Duffy-Welsh told Sheriff Robert Frazer that 39-year-old Iain MacLean, from Lochs on the Isle of Lewis, approached the boy and said: "If you are from Scotland, you can't drop litter in Scotland."
Ms Duffy-Welsh added: "The boy replied: 'I will pick it up when I am finished my food'. Then the accused headbutted him and his nose started to bleed."
Defence solicitor David Patterson said: "This was certainly not one of my client's finest moments. Drink had been consumed in vast quantities and he has no recollection of the incident.
"It was a petty argument, he is remorseful and has ceased alcohol use. He was not aware of the complainer's age."
Ordering MacLean to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work as an alternative to custody, the sheriff also instructed him to pay the boy £500 in compensation.
