A drug dealer caught peddling heroin in Perth has been jailed for eight months.
Sheriff Gillian Wade said she had no option but to imprison Donald Stevenson, who has a history of drug convictions.
The 43-year-old appeared at Perth Sheriff Court and admitted being concerned in the supply of the class A drug in Murray Street on January 6 last year.
Fiscal depute David Currie said the drugs recovered were worth about £180.
Solicitor John McLaughlin acknowledged his client has a “very lengthy record”.
Sheriff Wade told Stevenson: “Given your record, I’m left with no options.”
Prison assault
A prisoner who identifies as a woman battered a fellow inmate in the male wing of a Scottish jail after being the subject of “comments” by other lags, a court heard on Wednesday. Paedophile Katie Dolatowski, from Fife, was serving a sentence in Polmont Young Offenders’ Institution and has since been moved to Cornton Vale.
Phone charge not proved
A care worker has been cleared of watching a video on his mobile phone as he sped down the M90.
Roberto Grippo was charged with dangerous driving on the Perth to Inverkeithing stretch days before Christmas last year.
The 49-year-old denied the allegation and went on trial at Perth Sheriff Court.
Two police officers told how the Italian national sped past their unmarked car in a Citreon C1 at around 85mph.
Both said they could see “moving images” on a mobile phone attached to his dashboard.
PC Campbell Hutt said he activated his blue lights to signal Grippo to pull over.
“He was messing about with something on the phone when we stopped him,” the officer told the trial.
Grippo, of Campsie Road, Perth, denied watching a video or taking a video call.
He said his daughter had attempted to call from Italy and her profile photo had flashed up on his phone.
Cross-examined by fiscal depute Stuart Hamilton, Grippo admitted he was “rushing” to Kinross to pick up documents for work.
Sheriff Francis Gill said the Crown had not proved the charge of dangerous driving “beyond reasonable doubt”.
However, he found him guilty of careless driving by travelling at excessive speed and repeatedly crossing the white line, fined him £300 and put three penalty points on his licence.
Reluctant fugitive
Reluctant fugitive Kevin Hook twice tried to hand himself in at police stations but left after waiting for nearly an hour each time. He was wanted in connection with theft, assault and threatening behaviour at shops in Kirkcaldy but could not gain access to an officer to be arrested. He finally appeared in court on seven charges and was jailed.
Bin kicker
47-year-old Stuart Muirhead, of Westcroft Way in Kelty, lost his temper with his mother’s neighbours and was caught on their doorbell camera kicking a metal bin outside.
He pled guilty to a charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner in Dunfermline’s Shamrock Street on December 16 last year.
The city’s sheriff court heard there had been issues between the upstairs neighbours and Muirhead and his mother, who lives in the flat below.
Procurator fiscal depute Lee-Anne Hannan said the couple upstairs heard Muirhead shouting up at their flat from outside after he had made eye contact with the husband while he was closing his window.
Muirhead started ringing the doorbell but the neighbours chose not to answer.
The fiscal depute said the couple heard loud banging and saw, through the live feed from their doorbell, Muirhead repeatedly kicking a metal recycling bin outside.
Defence lawyer Elaine Buist said Muirhead had wanted to speak about his upset mother, who has been experiencing health difficulties.
“He felt this was another instance of the upstairs neighbours going out of their way to upset his mother and provoke a reaction out of him”.
Sheriff Wylie Robertson fined Muirhead £500.
Topless rampage
A topless thug’s rampage at a Perth council house left taxpayers with a £1,000 repair bill. Ewan Grant, 32, smashed windows and lobbed broken furniture at police officers during a stand-off in the city’s Drummond Crescent.
Police car rant
A drunken Perth woman unleashed a foul-mouthed rant in the back of a police car.
Rebecca Paterson, 36, was being given a lift by officers when she launched into an expletive-filled outburst.
The 36-year-old broke down in tears when she appeared at Perth Sheriff Court and admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner, likely to cause fear or alarm, during a police journey in Perth on November 8 2020.
Customer service provider Paterson was fined £540.
Fiscal depute Andrew Harding told the court police arrived following reports the accused was intoxicated and learned she was waiting for a taxi.
They gave her a lift home but she repeatedly swore at a civilian witness and “was also hostile to police officers, answering their questions in a sarcastic and aggressive manner,” according to prosecutor Andrew Harding.
He said: “On arrival at the accused’s home, the same sort of behaviour continued.”
Solicitor Paul Ralph, defending, said: “She was probably drinking too much.”
He added: “I don’t expect she will trouble the court again.”
