TWO people who pleaded guilty to racially abusing Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, have been issued community sentences.
Tracie Currie, 35, and Carl O’Brien, 25, admitted targeting Yousaf and directing offensive remarks at other SNP politicians in Dundee. They both avoided jail after pleading guilty.
According to reports, Currie and O’Brien repeatedly made racist remarks about Yousaf’s ethnicity and prejudiced comments about his religion in the Seagate area earlier this year.
The incident escalated when the pair targeted deputy first minister Shona Robison and Chris Law MP, directing verbal abuse at the SNP parliamentary office on Old Glamis Road.
According to reports, the duo made more than a dozen abusive phone calls to Stewart Hosie MP’s constituency office, accompanied by a disturbing video of them storming into the premises to hurl abuse about migrants and the first minister.
The sentencing took place at Dundee Sheriff Court, where Currie received an 18-month supervision order and was mandated to complete 180 hours of unpaid work within a year.
O’Brien, on the other hand, was handed a six-month restriction of liberty order, confining him to his home between 7 pm and 7 am. Both sentences were considered direct alternatives to custody.
The racially charged incident extended beyond the parliamentary office, with Currie and O’Brien later racially abusing diners in a restaurant before their eventual arrest by the police.
Acknowledging their remorse, the court heard that both individuals were going through a difficult period in their lives.
“You have committed serious offences and for both of you they are in the custodial zone,” Sheriff Alistair Carmichael was quoted as saying.
“Your actions in conveying your political views in an aggressive manner were unacceptable, unworthy and selfish. MPs and MSPs are democratically elected representatives of the people. You may or may not like them, and you may or may not like their politics.
“You have to express your views in a civilised manner, and not in an aggressive in-your-face ranting, as you have done – as that way lies anarchy.”
Notably, Currie faced additional charges of resisting arrest and struggling outside a police station, as well as possession of cocaine, but the Crown accepted her not guilty plea. O’Brien’s denial of a further charge of threatening and abusive behaviour was also accepted by prosecutors.
