A footballer who left a 14-year-old girl in a coma after giving her super-strength ecstasy during a kiss has avoided jail.
Stefan MacRitchie, 20, was with the teenager in the toilets of a New Year party when he passed the "Nintendo" pill from his mouth to hers.
A court heard the girl swallowed the class A drug before asking MacRitchie what it was, to which he replied: "Eccies", the Daily Record reports.
She was taken to hospital where doctors gave her a 50-50 chance of survival and warned of potential brain damage.
MacRitchie, who is on the books of Highland league side Strathspey Thistle, admitted supplying the drug at the party in 2014 when he appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday.
He was ordered to carry out 200 hours of community work and must remain under the supervision of a social worker for 18 months.
But the mother of his victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, slammed the sentence and said: “I’m shocked. Deep down inside I thought there’s no way they’ll let him walk away from this.
“Obviously, it would have taken my daughter to die and a murder charge for him to be put behind bars.
“We were lucky she survived. One of these days he will really harm someone.
“I’m shocked and disgusted. Petty criminals get put in jail for less.”
Yesterday, Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood was told by Mike Chapman, defending, that analysis showed the teenager had also consumed amphetamine, meth-amphetamine and an antidepressant.
Chapman said: “This was an impulsive offence carried out while he was under the influence of alcohol and ecstasy at the time.
“He accepts responsibility and does not place blame on the victim.
“He did not mean to cause her harm and no longer abuses illegal substances.”
Sheriff Fleetwood said: “This is an offence which could attract a custodial sentence but I can deal with it by a community based disposal because there is an alternative open to me.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Your comment is highly welcome