Man abused wheelchair woman

Recovery from op. could clear the way for jail sentence

A THURSO man, due to have an operation next month, could go to jail after he recovers. Drunken John Goodbrand, 60, subjected a neighbour in a wheelchair, to 'horrible' comments which a sheriff said could warrant a custodial sentence.
Sentencing has been delayed in view of the fact that Goodbrand was awaiting his operation for a burst hernia. After months of waiting, he was given January 5 as the date for surgery but solicitor Fiona MacDonald told Sheriff Andrew Berry at the weekend, that January 5 had been cancelled and that a fresh date of February 16 had been fixed.
Sheriff Berry will hear a progress report on Goodbrand's recuperation, on February 28. Goodbrand previously admitted a charge of threatening or abusive behaviour at his some at 24 Provost Sinclair Road, Thurso, on June 25, aggravated by prejudice towards someone with a disability. He opened a window of his home and told a neighbour sitting in her wheelchair on a ramp - "There is nothing wrong with you...get to f*** out of here."
Goodbrand, who has a record, followed that outburst with further abuse saying- "You f******cripple...you will never get out of that scooter."
The incident was reported to the police who found the accused asleep in his home in "an intoxicated state". The victim of his abuse. and her mother and others within earshot, were said to have been 'distressed" by the accused's comments.
These were also condemned by Sheriff Berry, fiscal Fraser Matheson and Miss MacDonald as "horrible".
Sheriff Berry told Goodbrand, after ordering him to appear personally, in September: "I would have been perfectly entitled to send you to prison today and be in no doubt that is still very much in my mind."
The sheriff added that the accused's actions were 'awful' and "far from trivial", regardless of his health issue.