Pregnant woman in Inverness hospital race hate rumpus

AN Inverness woman racially abused a doctor and slapped another because she was distressed as she was having a miscarriage.

Andrena Brown (41), of Rossal House, Island Bank Road, called Dr Puneet Mehrotra a “f***ing paki” at the city’s accident and emergency department at Raigmore Hospital.

She then slapped another doctor on the face, and branded a special constable “a dyke” as she was being taken to Burnett Road Police Station.

At Inverness Sheriff Court, Sheriff Alasdair MacFadyen ordered her to carry out 200 hours of community service as an alternative to jail. He branded her behaviour “disgusting” but was taking into account why she was at A&E, and that it had been a “blur” to her as she was intoxicated.

Depute fiscal Hilary Locker said on January 8, Brown was taken by ambulance to Raigmore, where staff initially found her calm.

She said: “Her visit was in connection with her pregnancy. Dr Mehrotra asked her a series of questions during his assessment of her, and he told her she may in fact be discharged. The accused took umbrage to this statement and became abusive, calling him a a “f***ing paki” repeatedly. She began shouting to one of the nurses who initially spoke to her.”

She explained how the doctor became alarmed when she told him to “go back to your own country”.

The court also heard how when the doctor left the cubicle because of what had been said to him, another doctor came to assist. However, as he was kneeling down to pick up tablets dropped by her, she “lashed out” and slapped him.

Defence agent William Young explained Brown was three months pregnant when staff at Rossal House became concerned about her bleeding heavily. She went to Raigmore, where he said she was a in “fragile state” as she was aware she was having a miscarriage.

He said: “She has had the opportunity to reflect, but she is at a loss to explain her behaviour. She was upset about what was happening to her in the half an hour leading up to those events.”

However, he said she had since met a new partner who was having a positive influence on her, that she had been undergoing a stable methadone programme and presented to the court as being sober.

He added: “In my view she has taken steps to address her problems.”

Brown admitted that on January 8 at Raigmore A&E, she behaved in a threatening or abusive manner as she shouted and swore and uttered abusive remarks at members of staff and did repeatedly refer to Dr Puneet Mehrotra as a “f***ing paki” and repeatedly stated he should go back to his own country.

She further admitted assaulting, obstructing or hindering Dr William Deans, and slapping him on the face.

She also pleaded guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner in that she shouted or swore and utter abusive and offensive remarks, and repeatedly referred to Special Constable Pamela Davie as a dyke while in a police vehicle travelling from Raigmore to Burnett Road Police Station.

Sentencing her to 200 hours community service, Sheriff MacFadyen admonished her on a further charge of conducting herself in a disorderly manner, shouting abuse, swearing, and threatening violence to occupants of a house in Morvich Way, Inverness, banging on windows and doors with unknown objects and committing a breach of the peace on June 24 last year.