Aviemore teen told to grow up at Inverness hearing after hitting shopkeeper

An Aviemore man who headbutted an Inverness shopkeeper will learn his fate next month.

Jason Mullen appeared for sentence at Inverness Sheriff Court after admitting the assault in Crown Stores, Kingsmills Road, Inverness, which happened on December 31 last year.

But Sheriff Margaret Neilson was not impressed by the 19-year-old’s attitude to the social worker who interviewed him.

She noted that he had a “couldn’t care less attitude” about what may happen to him.

The sheriff told Mullen, of Milton Crescent: “It is time you grew up. It is pathetic what you said in the report. It is a shocking report.”

The court heard that Mullen still had 200 hours of a current community payback order to complete and that he had breached a restriction of liberty order (ROLO) by removing his electronic tag.

The court was told by defence solicitor Natalie Paterson that her client was to be sentenced on the ROLO breach on March 18 and she suggested that this case be deferred until then.

“He now accepts that he needs intervention and he will comply,” she said. “It is accepted he has a poor attitude. At times, he lets his mouth run away from him.”

Mullen will re-appear on March 18 for sentencing on both and had his bail continued.

However, the sheriff warned him that remaining at liberty did not necessarily mean Mullen would escape a custodial sentence.