by The police tried to shut down the event as it got bigger and asked Carr to leave as he was the organizer.
But then he “frustrated” the efforts of the police to intervene and “a fight broke out”.
Mr MacGregor said: “It got to the stage where PC Mehmood decided he had to arrest the defendant but he was thrown to the floor twice.
“PC Zebb used his Pava spray but during the ensuing scuffle he was punched in the left wrist.”
“I’ve made mistakes”
Carr, who pleaded guilty to a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, said: “My intention that day was to help people struggling with the effects of the lockdown, myself among them, and to offer free lessons martial arts to guys I might fight, something I’m trained and qualified to do, and something I did for a few years before the lockdown.
”I still believe that what I was doing or trying to do was the right thing, however perhaps in the wrong way. In a very difficult time due to the isolation and the news a few weeks earlier that my mother had been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing radiation therapy, I wasn’t thinking 100 percent clearly.
“I’ve always done what I believe is right, I’ve made mistakes and strayed from the path at times, but I’ve always stood up and taken responsibility for my mistakes. Allowing myself to attack a police officer who was trying to arrest me, no matter how illegal I thought the arrest was, was wrong, resulting in an officer being injured, causing stress and upheaval to his family.
“It put stress and pressure on my family at a time when they had a lot to deal with. It undermined every good thing I was trying to do and caused me to lose the judo club I had started and my job, not to mention the friendships and respect I had for many people in the community.”
He added: “It all started with how I reacted that day, which I feel is in no way representative of who I am or who I want to be. My reaction that day was completely instinctive with the sole intention of escaping what I then perceived to be a threat, partly influenced by my emotional state of mind, partly by my righteous indignation and partly by my pride, for the which I am ashamed, embarrassed and deeply sorry for any pain or distress I may have caused.”
In sentencing, Judge Angela Nield told Carr he had made an “excellent plea in mitigation” and said he had expressed himself in a “careful and impressive manner”.
“Understandable in distress”
He also did not order compensation for the two computers.
He told Carr: “Your actions were influenced by your own state of mind at the time. You were understandably distressed by your mother’s recent diagnosis, which has greatly exacerbated your own difficulties and limitations you struggle with.’
At an earlier hearing, Carr was fined £2,000 for breaching Covid restrictions on judo classes and also ordered to pay £1,960 court costs and a £200 victim surcharge.
(tags For Translation) Court Cases
