A woman was abducted and held in a Dundee flat against her will by her violent partner.
Charles Bertie is awaiting sentencing after he admitted attacking the woman in a flat on Byron Street between August 10 and 11 last year.
The repeat offender, 43, admitted detaining the woman at the address, obstructing her exit and punching her on the shoulder, which caused her to fall to the floor.
Bertie pinned the woman on the ground, repeatedly pulled her hair and repeatedly punched her on the body.
The woman was pushed against walls and had her wrists seized by Bertie, who also seized her breast.
Perth prisoner Bertie admitted injuring the woman during the attack and pled guilty to the charge at Dundee Sheriff Court.
Sentence was deferred until next month for a social work report to be obtained.
This will assess the risk Bertie could pose to the wider community.
In July 2022, Bertie was jailed for housebreaking and The Courier reported in May 2020 how he was locked up for biting the finger of a police officer who tried to help him.
Shop sex attack
A shopkeeper who sexually assaulted a schoolgirl when she tried to buy a vape from him in Montrose has been placed on the sex offenders register. Salman Hssainni pulled the 13-year-old’s by the cardigan and tried to kiss her in the High Street shop.
‘Gun’ chase
Dundee man Christopher Carswell received an 18-month prison sentence after pursuing a cyclist and then pointing an imitation firearm at him and his mum.
At Forfar Sheriff Court, he pled guilty to two assaults and possessing an imitation firearm on June 22 last year.
Two days before the incident, Carswell, of St Nicholas Place in Dundee, had borrowed the airsoft weapon from a neighbour.
He arrived at Clatto Woods in Dundee, where his victim had been receiving assistance from his mother for his bicycle’s flat tyre.
In 2016, Carswell was jailed for four years for domestic assaults, including on the man’s mother.
He arrived at Clatto Country Park in an MG hatchback and began pursuing the woman’s son while he was on his pushbike.
The man veered onto a grass verge and Carswell tried to follow, shouting, “I am away to put you over the bonnet” as he got away.
When the man’s mother caught up, he began recording the pair, along with the woman’s teenage daughter and her partner, then started threatening to kill them and pulled the black gun from his waistband.
Police arrived and found a gun magazine after seeing Carswell running up a footpath to Templeton Woods.
He was arrested the next day and told officers: “I didn’t have a gun, I had a torch which extends and flashes.
“I had it so that if I needed to, I could spark him with it.”
When he was charged with initially charged with attempted murder in relation to the vehicular pursuit, he replied: “F***ing nonsense.”
In the dock, he pled guilty to assaulting the cyclist by pursuing him whilst in a motor vehicle, driving towards him at speed whilst he was on a pedal cycle, repeatedly attempting to strike him with the car and cause him to take evasive action to avoid being struck.
He also admitted assaulting the man, his mother, her daughter and her daughter’s partner by repeatedly brandishing an imitation black handgun towards them, and possessing the firearm without lawful authority.
The court heard unemployed Carswell has 52 previous convictions.
Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown jailed 39-year-old Carswell for 18 months, backdated to last June when he was remanded.
She also imposed non-harassment orders protecting all three of Carswell’s victims for three years each.
The sheriff noted Carswell was receiving treatment for complex PTSD.
Nightclub assault
A former soldier who sexually assaulted a woman at a Perth nightclub has been ordered to wear an electronic tag and stay at home every night for a year. Arran Blythe, 37, forced himself upon his victim during a night out at the city’s Club One in October last year.
Tooth loss assault
A Kirkcaldy man who left his victim with a missing tooth during an assault and robbery had his sentence further deferred for good behaviour.
Neil Proctor, 46, acted with another man during the attack at a grassy area in the town’s East March Street and Cairns Street East on March 31 last year.
He appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court for sentencing after being earlier pleading guilty to repeatedly punching the man on the head, causing him to fall to the ground, searching through his pockets and robbing him of cash.
His victim was left severely injured and permanently disfigured.
Prosecutor Duncan MacKenzie told the court previously the victim had been arguing with someone about drugs, then Proctor asked him for a “square go”.
He punched him once to the face and another unknown male also struck him, causing him to fall.
While on the ground the two attackers rummaged through his pockets and stole £70.
The fiscal depute said the man lost one of his bottom incisor teeth and other teeth were loosened.
Proctor, of Earn Road, Kirkcaldy, who was unemployed at the time, has previous convictions including for assault to severe injury and permanent disfigurement.
Defence lawyer Callum Harris said: “There seems an element of opportunism in the offence from Mr Proctor’s part, which he accepts entirely.”
Speaking at sentencing this week, Sheriff Robert More told Proctor he wants to see how he gets on with his offender supervision order, adding a progress report is “positive”.
Sentence was further deferred until August 14 for Proctor to demonstrate good behaviour and to engage with supervision.
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