Angry Prestwick dad smashed up restaurant’s bar

Aug 15 2008

A BURLY thug wrecked part of the Taj restaurant before being chased by weapon-wielding members of staff.

Robert Brown smashed up the bar area of the popular Prestwick eatery because he reckoned his daughter had been assaulted by staff there.

But he was soon chased out by half a dozen members of staff who were allegedly carrying baseball bats.

Brown himself required hospital treatment after the incident.

The 38-year-old appeared at Ayr Sheriff Court this week.

Depute fiscal Victoria Hart explained that it was just before midnight on April 7 this year when Brown turned up at the Taj.

After hurling a mouthful of racial abuse at the staff, he went behind the bar and started smashing bottles, shelves and a mirror.

Witnesses in the flat above came downstairs when they heard the commotion and saw Brown leaving through the front door, shouting and swearing.

Police were alerted to the fracas and arrived as Brown was grabbing one of the men by the throat.

After being arrested, he was taken to Ayr Hospital where he had to stay overnight and required seven staples in his head.

Brown admitted that on April 7 this year in the Taj and in Boyd Street gardens, he acted in a racially aggravated manner.

He also pleaded guilty to smashing bottles, a shelf and a mirror and assaulting Inderjit Uppal by grabbing him by the throat.

A defence lawyer for Brown, of Salisbury Place in Prestwick, said that his client had been dealt out “summary justice” when he was chased by up to six members of staff attempting to assault him.

The lawyer added that the men were armed with sticks and baseball bats.

Sheriff Douglas Brown fined Brown £600.