The father of a Down's syndrome teenager with a mental age of five said yesterday his family had been through "pure hell" after his son was charged with a racist assault.
Jamie Bauld, 18, was accused of attacking an Asian pupil at his special needs school. The case was eventually dropped more than seven months later.
But his parents, Jim and Fiona Bauld, said the complaint should never have been taken so far in the first place.
They described the allegation as "nonsense" and that Jamie had simply pushed the girl away as she approached him while eating lunch.
The family, from Cumbernauld in Lanarkshire, described the incident as "like two five-year-olds having an argument," and criticised prosecutors over their handling of the incident.
Mr Bauld said: "It was so ridiculous. When we spoke to the procurator-fiscal's office, it was a case of so what?' "They were not interested. It was pure hell. It has dragged on for eight months and we're delighted it's over now."
The incident happened at Motherwell College on September 4 last year. Jamie's mother, his full-time carer, said he had complained earlier about an Asian girl following him and staring at him.
When she approached him one lunchtime he pushed her away with his hand and told her to go away. The college informed Jamie's parents that he and the girl had been reprimanded over the incident.
The Baulds then heard a notice had been placed in a local newspaper appealing for witnesses to a racial assault and two police officers later interviewed Jamie.
Mr Bauld said they assured the family that the case would come to nothing but after the visit they received a letter from the procurator-fiscal saying they had enough evidence to charge his son.
Mr Bauld said: "When the police came to the door I let them in, thinking they just wanted to speak to Jamie. Then they began reading him his rights."
Down's Syndrome Scotland, director Pandora Summerfield said: "We understand there are formal guidelines the police should be following in terms of interviewing vulnerable adults and that these were not followed in this case.
"We will be writing to the justice minister, raising a number of points as a result of this particular case."
