Our reporters have been sitting in courtrooms across the north and north-east this week and covered a wide variety of cases.
Domestic abuser rugby tackled wife
A brutal and controlling abuser may have broken his wife’s ribs when he “rugby tackled” the nurse into a kitchen unit, a court has heard.
But the domestic abuse survivor, a wife of 11 years to Michael McIntosh, was “too embarrassed” to have her bruised ribs examined in a hospital.
The 34-year-old landscaper later called his partner, who worked nightshifts on a busy Covid ward, a “lazy bitch” and insisted that the keyworker clean his home instead of sleep.
Man attacked girlfriend while she chatted to friends on videocall
A tradesman attacked his girlfriend in front of her horrified friends as they chatted with her on a video call, a court has been told.
The woman’s pals witnessed Douglas Morrison calling her a ‘slag’ and a ‘fat whore’, before grabbing his domestic abuse victim and dragging her away.
They heard their friend shouting “get off me” followed by a “loud thumping sound”, Elgin Sheriff Court was told.
Hostage standoff livestreamed on Facebook
A drunken racist who has been described as “the poster child for extreme alcohol misuse” abducted his neighbour in an incident that was livestreamed on Facebook by a “baying mob”.
Shaun Dunbar locked the terrified woman inside his flat in Aberdeen’s Byron Square for more than 30 minutes after she came to collect a drum kit, which she’d previously bought from him.
The woman’s screams for help caught the attention of nearby residents and a crowd began to gather outside the property, with some filming the events and broadcasting them live on social media.
Unrepentant paedophile sentenced
A Lossiemouth sex offender began downloading child abuse videos the day after his home was raided by police.
Christopher Nagle, 26, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court for sentencing almost three years after being convicted of possessing extreme images of teens and toddlers being abused.
He was sentenced then to unpaid community work and unpaid hours.
Rapist jailed for attacks on women
A rapist who subjected two women to a series of sickening physical and sexual attacks caused them “considerable harm and distress”, a judge has told him.
First-time offender Jamie Ironside maintained his innocence even as he was being sentenced to four years in prison.
Judge Lord Sandison also placed the 38-year-old on the Sex Offenders Register.
Furloughed worker turned to ketamine
A furloughed offshore worker who turned to ketamine has been fined more than £6,000 after bulk buying the drug to get him through a local lockdown.
Daniel Tough was found with ketamine worth up to £6,160 stashed in his BMW X5 when police executed a search warrant at his address on Carden Terrace, Aberdeen.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard the 31-year-old had first started using the drug after struggling to cope with being furloughed.
Speedbump sends car soaring
A young driver who was fleeing police hit a speed bump at 50mph and sent his car airborne, a court has heard.
Connor Ross, known as McKenzie, sped away after officers smelled the odour of cannabis coming from his car.
But he ended up losing control of the vehicle and sent it spinning through the air sideways and into a parked van.
Woman attacked total stranger
A woman has been jailed after chasing a complete stranger down an Aberdeen street before viciously attacking him.
Stefanie Rodriguez, 32, and another female began running after the man and demanding money from him just before 10pm on April 17.
Together the women dragged him to the ground in the Adelphi and repeatedly punched him to the face and body.
Chip shop worker ‘desperate’ crime
A chip shop worker stole almost £500 from his work’s safe in “desperation” due to financial difficulties.
Gary Adams resorted to stealing to support his family, including a new baby, after he and his wife were made redundant.
The 41-year-old was caught after other staff at Lows Traditional Fish and Chips in Berryden checked CCTV when Adams didn’t return from the rear of the shop.
They discovered he had walked in, helped himself to the contents of the safe and immediately left.
Man threatened to slit throats of partner and mum
A “paranoid” man who locked his partner and mum in his home and threatened to slit their throats if they called the police has been jailed.
Neil Cook believed his partner was cheating on him so refused to let the pair leave their Fraserburgh home until she admitted the infidelity.
During the ordeal, which lasted for hours, Cook, 27, assaulted both women by kicking, punching and slapping them, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Neighbours’ dispute turns violent
A man turned the tables on his neighbour and a friend when they turned up at his door armed with a crowbar and a brick and tried to goad him into a fight.
John Hall had previously had a disagreement with his neighbour, when the man, along with a friend, armed themselves and began banging on his door attempting to instigate a brawl.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told Hall, 23, desperately tried to keep the men out of his flat as they hammered on the door and his terrified partner was in “hysterics”.
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First class sense of smell
A mail order drug dealer was snared by diligent Post Office staff who noticed the smell of cannabis coming from parcels and called in the police.
Brian Hetherington tried to post multiple packages of drugs from his local Post Office branch after turning to dealing to tackle spiralling debts, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Officers first executed a search warrant at the 30-year-old’s Westhill home in August 2019, just days after they found Hetherington unconscious and in possession of a host of illicit drugs in Aberdeen city centre.
Nine months later he was snared again after trying to post cannabis from a post office counter.
Murderer’s life sentence extended
A murderer serving a life sentence in prison will be locked up for 21 more months after he fashioned a weapon out of a toothbrush and razorblade.
Johnathan MacKinnon has been locked up since 2013 after he and another man were convicted of the murder of 16-year-old Liam Aitchison on South Uist.
The case, which was the first murder in the Western Isles for more than 40 years, saw MacKinnon, along with Stefan Millar, ordered to serve at least 18 years behind bars.
Lockdown dealer caught
A repeat cannabis dealer was caught with hundreds of pounds worth of the drug he’d bought to supply his friends over lockdown.
Ross Kerr had tubs and bags full of cannabis when police executed a search warrant at his address in Fyvie on October 5 2020.
When officers arrived, the 26-year-old told them: “Every bit of weed in that room is mine.”
Fare dodger made to pay
A fare dodger who skipped out on an £8 taxi fare will now find himself £320 out of pocket after pleading guilty to fare fraud.
Scott Smith, 20, got in the cab at the rank outside the Filling Station on Academy Street, Inverness, and asked the driver to take him to his home in Mackintosh Road.
But when he arrived at the address he did a runner, failing to return and pay the fare as promised.
Family holiday turns nasty
Family tensions reached boiling point during a short break at a holiday cottage when a son attacked his own dad.
Donald Burn, 29, ended up holding his father in a headlock, wrestling him to the ground and repeatedly punching him during the 2am tussle in Sandend.
Other family members within the holiday rental heard the “commotion” and police had to be called on June 29 this year, Banff Sheriff Court was told.
Gangster granny
A drug dealing grandmother has been locked up for 50 months after police raided her home and found thousands of pounds of heroin.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard that this is the third time Lesley Moir, from Fraserburgh, has been convicted of drug trafficking.
Police carried out a raid on the 42-year-old’s West Road home after receiving information that drug dealing was taking place there.
Hot tub crime machine
A hot tub thief attacked a man with a baseball bat in a drug-related street assault in Aberdeen.
Residents of Rosehill Drive in Aberdeen looked out of their windows on hearing a disturbance around 1.50pm on June 9, and saw prolific shoplifter Amanda Ingham along with two males.
Ingham, 52, was seen wielding a baseball bat and then hitting one of the men, understood to be her partner or ex-partner, on the leg with it, causing him to fall to the ground.
In a separate string of shoplifting offences, Ingham even nabbed a hot tub from B&Q in Garthdee.
Child rapist finally behind bars
A child rapist has been convicted of the horrific physical, mental and sexual abuse of young girls – more than 30 years after his victims first reported his crimes to police.
John Sinclair abused the children, aged between three and 13, during the 1970s and 80s in Aberdeenshire but for unknown reasons the authorities decided not to prosecute him.
The High Court in Aberdeen today heard that all five of his victims provided statements to police in 1990 but “for reasons obscured by the passage of time” he was never charged.
Hit-and-run driver gets lost in the woods
A drink-driver was forced to call police on himself when he got lost in woodland after ditching his car following a Hogmanay hit-and-run.
Ewan Stevenson made the distress call on the morning of January 1 saying he was “lost in a woodland” and was “scared”.
It was only after officers had returned him to the campsite where he was staying – 18 miles away – that they discovered he had driven drunk to the spot and had collided with another car.
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Road worker’s death could have been avoided
The death of an experienced roads worker who was run over by an Orkney Council tipper truck could have been avoided, an inquiry has concluded.
Keith Johnston didn’t hear the local authority’s lorry reversing towards him because he was wearing ear protectors and operating a “very noisy” leaf blower, a report said.
The 52-year-old from Dounby was struck by the vehicle while he was blowing loose stone chips onto resurfaced carriageway, on the A967 between Twatt and Bruna Fae.
Drugs man tried to swallow evidence
A man was caught with 16 wraps of drugs after trying unsuccessfully to swallow them as police closed in.
Ian Stewart was carrying crack cocaine and heroin when he saw the uniformed officers approaching.
Stewart has now appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court and admitted two charges of possession of a class A.
Woman clawed stranger’s face
A woman who drunkenly attacked a stranger by clawing at her face has been told to pay her victim £300 in compensation.
Carol MacCallum assaulted the woman in a hospital car park for absolutely no reason after “completely and utterly misreading the situation”, Elgin Sheriff Court was told.
The 47-year-old launched herself at her victim, grabbed her by the throat and repeatedly clawed at and punched her face, during the mid-afternoon attack on November 22, 2021.
‘Justice really does go slow’
A man has finally been sentenced for assaulting his partner and driving offences – 15 years after failing to turn up to court.
Donewell Phiri appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court in 2007 when he admitted three charges.
But the now 47-year-old got his dates mixed up and failed to appear for his sentencing hearing.
Shoplifter’s river escape
A shoplifter was so desperate to escape police after stealing bottles of alcohol from a city centre supermarket that he jumped into a river.
Zen Etchells had stolen rum worth £72 from the Co-op on Church Street in Inverness and fled the scene on foot.
His solicitor said his life was so chaotic at the time that he had tried to evade officers by throwing himself into the River Ness.
Driver jailed for killing teacher in trailer crash
A driver whose faulty trailer killed a north-east primary school teacher when it came away from his vehicle has been jailed for two years.
Raymond Lamb was today described by a judge as being “grossly negligent” following the death of Yvonne Lumsden, 35, on July 12 2019.
The 31-year-old plumber was on the road in his Mitsubishi L200 pick-up while towing a trailer which had a defective braking system and attachment.
Woman blinded in horror broom attack
A thug who blinded a woman by ramming a broom handle into her eye socket blamed the horrific attack on the pressures of lockdown.
Daniel Lawson repeatedly thrust the object into his victim during the “vicious and sustained” attack at a house in Mill Drive, Aberdeen, on November 15 2020.
The 40-year-old was today jailed for three and nine months at the High Court in Glasgow.
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