Pub attack woman faked black-out in Inverness hospital fracas

A WOMAN faked having black-out at the accident and emergency unit at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness in an attempt to avoid an assault charge.

But Elizabeth Macdonald ended up in Inverness Sheriff Court and was found guilty after a trial of attempting to punch the nurse who was working on a busy night shift at the hospital.

Macdonald (53) of Redcastle View, Kirkhill, Inverness, denied on April 29 last year at Lauders Bar assaulting a woman by butting her on the head causing her to fall to the ground.

She also denied on April 30 at the Accident and Emergency unit at Raigmore assaulting staff nurse Evie Jack and attempting to punch her on the head and behaving in a threatening and abusive manner, shouting and swearing when arrested by police.

The trial heard that when police arrived to deal with the incident in the pub, an ambulance was called to take Macdonald to hospital after she collapsed in the street outside.

Nurse practitioner Evie Jack (34) said she was treating Macdonald at Raigmore when she threw a punch at her. It failed to make contact because her colleague Sandra Elliot (47), an assistant at the unit, grabbed her arm.

She said they were trying to check her heart at the time but she wasn’t co-operating.

Ms Jack said the department was incredibly busy and when she saw Macdonald on a trolley she thought for a minute she was unconscious.

Ms Jack said the records of the ambulance crew indicated she was completely unconscious but on examination she said staff at the unit were not overly concerned and decided she would not need to go to a resuscitation unit.

She said Macdonald’s whole body was jerking and she was bouncing up on the bed. "It takes a conscious decision to do that as opposed to uncontrolled movements when you have a seizure.

"We said it was clear she was not having a seizure and she got a bit cross and at that point she stopped.

"Afterwards she was remorseful and said she was sorry."

She said she had dealt with hundreds of cases of people having seizures and panic attacks and her symptoms didn’t match either scenario.

Sandra Elliot said she went to assist Ms Jack in the cubicle and Macdonald went to hit her colleague. She grabbed her arm. She said Macdonald’s behaviour was not typical of someone having a seizure or a panic attack.

"It was not genuine," she said.

PC David Armes (30) described how Macdonald went limp and refused to co-operate when she was being arrested and she began shouting and swearing at the entrance to the A&E unit.

Macdonald told the court she had eight black-out episodes in the past and had been seen by neurology department at Raigmore but there had been no diagnosis.

She could not recall any of the events at the hospital. She said she was "shocked" at the allegations.

Sheriff Margaret Neilson found Macdonald guilty on all three charges. The Crown had acknowledged that Macdonald had medical problems but the sheriff said these were serious offences and she would call for community justice social work reports before sentencing on February 7.