Drunken rampage therapist is allowed to keep working

Published on 24/07/2012 12:00

A DRUNK therapist who attacked a police officer and hurled racist anti-Irish abuse has been allowed to carry on working.

Donald Maciver, who works at Queen Margaret University, kneed the constable three times in the chest and tried to headbutt another during a booze-fuelled rage.

He also launched into a racist tirade against the officer during the incident at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where he had been taken after being found lying in the road.

Maciver was fined more than £1000 when he admitted three charges in court last year, but has avoided being struck off at a disciplinary hearing of the Health Professions Council, which said he had “taken steps to remedy his situation”.

The incident started when the occupational therapist was spotted vandalising a car in Portobello Road just before 10am on April 29, last year.

Police who found Maciver lying the road took him to the ERI for treatment, but when they arrived, he became “aggressive” and used 
“offensive language” towards one of the officers before he punched himself twice in the face.

Then, while being assessed by a doctor, Maciver lashed out at one of the officers by kneeing him three times in the side of the chest and attempting to headbutt the second officer.

Later that morning, Maciver began taunting one of the officers in “a mock Irish accent” for around ten minutes.

Following treatment Maciver, who lives in the Capital, then tried to assault the officers again before calling one of them “a tiny little Irish b******”.

Maciver appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in August 2011 and pleaded guilty to the three charges, including breach of the peace, police assault and one of racially-aggravated behaviour, while a plea of not guilty to a second charge of police assault was accepted by the Crown.

He was given a deferred sentence and told to behave until January 18, this year, before eventually being fined around £1150.

Maciver appeared in person as the HPC disciplinary hearing, held in Edinburgh last week, dished out a three-year caution order for the criminal offences.

The HPC panel stated: “The panel accepts that the incident which led to Mr Maciver’s conviction can properly be described as an isolated 
incident which arose as a 
result of Mr Maciver’s health problems.

“The panel views the circumstances of the incident as a serious breach of professional standards.

“The panel accepts that Mr Maciver’s expressions of remorse in his evidence are genuine and finds that in his evidence he has demonstrated real insight into the causes and effect of his misconduct.

“Mr Maciver accepted that his role as an academic places him squarely in the public sphere and that he is regarded as a mentor and role model.

“The panel has decided that a caution order is the appropriate sanction to impose in all the circumstances of this case.”

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