Wick son pulled out mother's hair in drunken argument, court hears

A drunken mother and son fell out because she was being "cheeky" to him, Inverness Sheriff Court was told.

Donald McPhee, a prisoner at Inverness, pulled her by the hair, removing some from her head and slapped her on the face during the argument which occurred in their property at Leishman Avenue, Wick on September 23, 2022.

McPhee appeared by video link at Inverness Sheriff Court on Monday and admitted assaulting his 62-year-old mother to her injury.

Fiscal depute Robert Weir told Sheriff Gary Aitken that McPhee's mother suffered from alcoholism and phoned the police "rambling" about having been assaulted by her son.

The prosecutor said that McPhee told police: "She deserved it because she was being cheeky to me."

Defence solicitor Natalie Paterson said her client, who had been on remand for nine months, and his mother had been "consuming large amounts of alcohol".

Sheriff Aitken admonished McPhee, "given the period of time you have spent on remand," he told the accused.