Terrified Edinburgh nurse was sick with fear after ordeal at hands of bus thug
Joe Galbraith grabbed the exhausted medic around the waist and repeatedly attempted to kiss her as she made her way home from a shift at an Edinburgh hospital.
The brute, was with a group of pals when he carried out the “shameful” assault on the woman during the journey between the capital and Dunbar in East Lothian last year.
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Hide AdGalbraith, 21, was originally charged with sexually assaulting the nurse but he admitted to an amended charge of assault when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today.
Sheriff Douglas Keir told Galbraith he had carried out “a very disturbing” attack which had caused the woman “substantial distress”.
Prosecutor Clare Kennedy told the court the victim had just finished a long work shift and was sitting on the X7 East Coast bus travelling from Edinburgh to Dunbar at around 10pm on October 5 last year.
Ms Kennedy said: “Mr Galbraith boarded the bus with some friends. The woman was sat at a window seat and Mr Galbraith took the empty seat next to her.
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Hide Ad“He was under the influence of alcohol and he had a bottle of alcohol with him on the bus. Mr Galbraith’s behaviour was very boisterous.
“He spoke to the woman and at some point during the journey he placed his hand around her waist and repeatedly leaned in and attempted to kiss her neck.”
The fiscal said Galbraith, from Dunbar, was “laughing and joking” during the assault but said the traumatised woman found the attention to be “extremely upsetting”.
The nurse then contacted her partner by text and he met her when she eventually made her way from the bus and was physically sick from the ordeal she had experienced at Galbraith’s hands.
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Hide AdMs Kennedy added: “When she got off the bus she was so upset at what had happened she was physically sick in the street.”
The nurse’s partner subsequently contacted the police to report the attack.
Solicitor Andrew Docherty, defending, said his client, who works as a full time kitchen assistant, had been out in Edinburgh with friends and had been drinking vodka most of the evening.
Mr Docherty said: “He had drunk to excess. He has little to no memory of the incident.
“He is extremely embarrassed and ashamed by his behaviour.
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Hide Ad“His mother is also very embarrassed and he knows his behaviour was not appropriate.”
Sentencing Galbraith, Sheriff Keir said: “ This was a very disturbing incident. You caused substantial distress.
“Your behaviour that night was quite shameful - your mother has every right to be embarrassed by your actions.”
Galbraith was fined £720 after he pleaded guilty to an amended charge of assaulting his victim by placing his hand around her waist and repeatedly attempting to kiss her on the neck during the course of a bus journey between Edinburgh and Dunbar, East Lothian, on October 5 last year.