The Tuesday court round-up.
Knife carrier
Police were called to a Forfar neighbourhood following several reports of a man carrying a knife.
Daniel Russell was spotted walking along Glenmoy Terrace with a lock-knife in his hand.
Fiscal depute Nicole Lewis told the town’s sheriff court multiple people called the police after spotting the 36-year-old.
She said police arrived on the scene and arrested Russell.
They found his knife lying in a car park nearby.
Russell, of Glenclova Terrace, Forfar, was not at court when his case called on Tuesday.
His solicitor submitted a guilty plea on his behalf.
Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown deferred sentence until March 3 for background reports.
Murder trial
Perthshire man John Lizanec will stand trial later this year accused of murdering his wife Michelle at their home in Orchard Way, Inchture. He is accused of putting her body in a cupboard and then fleeing to Balunie Street, Dundee where he is said to have barricaded himself in a house to “evade arrest”.
Separation anxiety
A Fife man punched a drinking buddy in a row over being separated on a night out.
Dale O’Leary, 26, attacked James Millar at a property in Dunfermline’s Broomhead Drive on November 7.
Fiscal depute Lora Apostolova said O’Leary was upset at having been left behind when they got separated on a night out.
He admitted repeatedly punched Mr Millar and hit his head off the floor.
O’Leary, a prisoner at Perth, will be sentenced next month.
Groped stranger
Engineering inspector Kenneth Robertson from Dundee was placed on the Sex Offenders Register after groping a stranger who had invited him into her home to show it off. Robertson, 60, had complimented his victim’s garden and joked about TV show Gardener’s World and then attacked her minutes later.
Ninewells ‘bomb’ trial fixed
A man has appeared in court accused of causing a commotion at Ninewells Hospital, by claiming there was a bomb on the premises.
John Clenaghan, 32, denies behaving in a threatening or abusive manner at the Dundee hospital on August 15, last year.
Prosecutor allege his actions were likely to have caused fear or alarm.
Clenaghan, of Burnside of Tulloes, Forfar, pleaded not guilty during a brief appearance at Forfar Sheriff Court on Tuesday.
He further denies that on August 14, 2021, at Fallows of Arbirlot, Arbroath, he failed to provide his name and address to police constables Cameron Scott and Stuart Hadden, without a reasonable excuse.
He is also accused of failing to reveal the identity of the driver of a car following an alleged traffic incident on an unclassified road, near Fallows of Arbirlot, at 9pm that day.
And it is further alleged he refused to comply with breath tests.
Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown agreed to adjourn Clenaghan’s trial until May 9, to allow his defence team to make further inquiries. An intermediate hearing was set for April 26.
The full caseload of the Dundee Crime and Courts Team can be found here.
