The weekend draws close but we’re still bringing the court content.
Phone pest carpeted
A businessman had to be told three times to put his phone away while in Perth Sheriff Court on a careless driving charge.
Christopher Cullen was caught repeatedly checking his phone.
Proceedings came to a halt as both Sheriff Neil Bowie and fiscal depute Sean Maher asked Cullen to put his phone away.
Cullen, 37, was adamant he had important affairs to conduct.
“It’s not just people, I have a business”, he said, waving his device at Sheriff Bowie.
Cullen of Torrance, Glasgow, is the owner of a carpet cleaning business, employing up to eight people.
At one point he interrupted Sheriff Bowie, requesting to speak and stating: “I’ve been at High Court a few times.”
“Can you just keep quiet please”, responded Sheriff Bowie.
On August 31, 2019 Cullen was travelling in his BMW on the A9 from Stirling to Perth.
He was driving 65 to 70 mph when he collided with a car he was trying to overtake.
He pled guilty to careless driving and was banned for 11 months and fined £900.
Keep offending and you’ll be jailed
Thief Marcus Keep‘s raid on a Perth branch of Aldi was one of a series of night-time break-ins which resulted in his appearance at Pert Sheriff Court. The 20-yar-old was told he will be locked up if he offends again after causing heartache to business owners in the Fair City.
Meter feeder
A Dunfermline man who admitted supplying cannabis has been spared a prison sentence.
Elliot Goldie, 23, pled guilty at Dunfermline Sheriff Court in July to being concerned in the supplying the drug from his home in Gilfillan Road between April 28, 2019 and May 5, 2019.
Depute Fiscal Mat Piskorz said: “Two police officers attended at the locus for an unrelated matter.
“The accused freely allowed officers access to the property’s living room area.
“Officers identified a strong smell of cannabis.
Thereafter, they identified a number of clear plastic bags of herbal matter and a black plastic bag of the same herbal matter.”
21g of the drug were recovered by police, worth around £210.
Goldie’s solicitor said the cannabis was mostly for his own use but he would “sell a gramme to pay the electric meter.”
Sheriff Alastair Brown told him: “You were dealing. I have to consider a sentence of imprisonment.”
However, he issued Goldie with 160 hours of unpaid work instead.
Pet protector
Protective pet owner Bradley Bloice threatened his neighbours with a kitchen knife because he thought they were threatening his dog. The Crieff man told police: “No one threatens my dog”.
Rubbed against teenager
A woman who rubbed her body against a 17-year-old at a Fife Bus Station has been placed under supervision.
Jennifer Raeside, 34, also made inappropriate remarks towards the teenager on May 20, 2019.
Raeside, of Rosemount Grove in Leven, had been at the town’s bus station when she acted “in a disorderly manner” towards the teenager, who was not known to her.
She previously admitted that she rubbed her clothed body against his clothed body.
Sheriff Keith O’Mahony placed Raeside under supervision for two years.
He also ordered her to complete 150 hours of unpaid work as a direct alternative to custody.
Marine assault
Former Marine Neil Meager from Errol was given a period of unpaid work after being found guilty of assaulting a 15-year-old by repeatedly punching him in the face. It was his second assault conviction and he was told another would result in prison.
Litre vodka bottle
A drink driver found with a bottle of vodka in his passenger seat refused to give police a urine sample.
Steven Pitcaithly of Alexandra Street in Kirkcaldy, failed to give the sample when he was taken to Kirkcaldy Police Station on March 7.
The 57-year-old was reported after “erratic driving” in a car park.
Fiscal Depute Xander said witnesses saw Pitcaithly pick up a one litre bottle of vodka from the passenger side of his hire purchase car.
When he got out, he was slow and unsteady on his feet, and police were contacted.
Officers who approached Pitcaithly smelled alcohol and noted he was slurring his speech when he told officers he had drunk from the bottle.
At Kirkcaldy Station he was given water and asked to provide a urine sample, but told officers: “I can’t pee.”
Sheriff Keith O’Mahony banned him from the road for 12 months and fined him £400.
Eight-hour assault
Dundee decorator Jamie Taylor was jailed for a vicious and sustained attack on his then-girlfriend. The court heard she was so desperate to escape the violence, she threatened to jump from a fourth floor balcony in the city’s Hilltown. She was rescued by police when neighbours heard her “blood-curdling” screams.
In case you missed it…
Wednesday round-up — Bottle threat and mattress fire
Tuesday round-up — Count to ten
Monday round-up — Dexy’s, drunks and dogs
Friday round-up — Booze-fuelled ‘Spoons hullabaloo
EXCLUSIVE: How fraudsters scammed Crieff restaurant out of £44,000 in elaborate curry racket