An SNP MSP has revealed he was charged with attempted murder when he was 15 years old.
James Dornan, 72, said the incident still sticks to him “like a curse”.
Speaking to The National newspaper, the politician said he was walking the streets of Battlefield in 1968 in the southside of Glasgow when one of his friends ran across the road and challenged two young boys.
He said he then ran over and punched one of the boys, who was later hit with a weapon by one of his friends, leaving him seriously injured.
His charge was later reduced to common assault and he received a £15 fine and two years’ probation.
The MSP for Glasgow Cathcart said he decided to open up about the ordeal 57 years later due to the release of the hit Netflix drama Adolescence.
The series follows a 13-year-old boy arrested over the murder of a young girl and the impact it has on his family.
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Mr Dornan said he has not watched the show, explaining: “I find this quite traumatic and very difficult emotionally to look at something that triggers things that have happened in my past, having just seen the clips.
“When you’re a young man, you do things without thinking of the repercussions and then the repercussions just expand, and everyone is caught up in it.
“I didn’t want to see two actors playing a very emotional role that I could see being my mum and dad.
“Stephen Graham is a magnificent actor. He acts with his heart, and I think that’s why I would’ve found it very difficult. He reminds me of my dad.”
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Mr Dornan said he felt “shame and fear” following the incident.
He said: “The first bad bit was when my dad came down (to the police station) because my dad was straight as a die and this sort of thing was just awful.
“I felt shame and fear. I felt shame my mum would be suffering but also that my dad was going to have to go through this and at the same time I felt fear because I had no idea what was going to happen to me.
“I am now 57 years away from that incident and I still feel responsible for lots of things that have happened because of it, how people felt because of that incident.
“I don’t think about it all the time but one of the problems I’ve got is I carry guilt about with me. It sticks with you like a curse. It never leaves you.”
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Mr Dornan praised the show’s message around toxic masculinity.
He said: “It astounds me that we’ve now created a society where big sections think the denigration of women is acceptable behaviour.
“That’s what I like about Adolescence. I hope it will engender the debate.”
