An Ayr dad who threatened his son because he was “getting battered” has been given a second chance by a sheriff.

The dad, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared at Ayr Sheriff Court last week and pled guilty to three charges. His not guilty plea to a fourth charge was accepted by the prosecutor.

Procurator Fiscal Cath White told the court that members of the public were sitting in a garden in Patna when their attention was drawn to a man shouting loudly at his two children.

He shouted at his 12-year-old son: “I’m f*****’ sick of you getting battered.

“If yo u don’ t hit back, I’m going to batter you.”

He continued to shout at the children until one onlooker told him to stop and “hit someone your own size”.

The dad then turned on the man, telling him: “F***off, fa t b*****d.”

The children continued walking along out of sight, but bystanders could still hear the dad shouting in an abusive manner and they contacted police.

When the family returned home, the dad told his partner that the children had been fighting and that he had to separate them. He also claimed that two members of the public had approached him and assaulted him by punching him on the face.

The fiscal continued: “There was no police report on this alleged incident but because of what he told his partner she contacted police on his behalf thinkin g he had bee n assaulted.”

Police arrived at the family’s address and were told by the man’s partner that the children were on the child protection register because the couple struggled to control them. During this time, the dad was upstairs asleep with the children.

Police returned to the home later after investigations failed to back up the dad’s assault claims. When he was told he was being arrested, he became angry, shouting at his partner to wake up the children because he wanted to use them as witnesses.

He continued to shout and swear while being taken into the police van, then started banging his head off the vehicle’s interior.

Sheriff Carole Cunninghame imposed a structured deferred sentence because of th e dad’s early plea of guilty and due to him being a first offender.

He was bailed to return to the court in November following a criminal Justice Social Work Report.