Weekend court roll – a serial rapist, a dirty protest and a crime caused by hip-hop

Our reporters have been sitting in courtrooms across the north and north-east this week and covered a wide variety of cases.

Chef attacked girlfriend

A chef attacked his girlfriend when she took away his Xbox and threatened to sell it to cover his unpaid contribution towards the couple’s rent.

Jonathan Wiggins “completely snapped” during the row about money on February 11 this year, his victim said.

She told The Press and Journal that she felt “broken” after the 26-year-old assaulted her in the woman’s own home.

Wiggins denied a single charge of assault, aggravated by involving abuse of his now ex-partner.

Serial rapist finally behind bars

A serial rapist who forced his victims to wear latex bondage masks during his attacks also headbutted one of them as she was giving birth to their baby.

Keith McBain, 31, has now been locked up for 14 years after he was found guilty of six charges including rape, indecent assault, and assault to injury at addresses in Aberdeen.

All three of McBain’s victims were forced to give evidence in court after the dangerous predator refused to accept his guilt.

One of them, a 38-year-old woman, described how his campaign of violence and intimidation even carried on while she was in labour with their son.

Single punch left pub-goer permanently impaired

A Fraserburgh man who permanently impaired a fellow pub-goer with a single punch that broke the victim’s cheekbone has had his jail sentence extended by 18 months.

Jodie Forman is already serving a four-and-a-half-year prison term after he and another man abducted a teenager and burned the 17-year-old boy with a red-hot iron.

Now, the 34-year-old will spend even more time behind bars after he admitted knocking out another man with a single blow, during a brutal “premeditated” assault.

Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that Forman had been drinking at the Balaclava Bar in Fraserburgh on October 8, 2021, when he left another man permanently impaired.

Dirty protester in court

A Turriff man hurled death threats at police officers before smearing excrement over himself and his cell.

Ian McCafferty’s disgusting behaviour came after a disturbance in the early hours of the morning in Turriff.

He had to be restrained to the ground by members of the public and when police turned up to arrest him he turned “hostile”, threatening to bite one officer’s nose off and give her Hepatitis B.

It was in the Fraserburgh custody suite that the 47-year-old carried out his so-called dirty protest, writing “f*** your system” in faeces on his cell wall and smeared himself in his own excrement.

Coke-fuelled campaign of violence

A construction firm boss who carried out a cocaine-fuelled campaign of violence and intimidation against his own family and friends has been spared jail.

Alistair Brownie’s bizarre behaviour included flashing his penis at his own mum, decapitating a toy dog, setting fire to the entrance of a friend’s home and attacking a Range Rover with a claw hammer.

The 35-year-old has now been ordered to stay away from his wife and mother and to undergo random drug testing.

Aberdeen Sheriff Court was previously told Brownie’s wife and young son had left their marital home in Sauchen 12 months prior, citing his “erratic behaviour”, and moved in with his mum.

Young driver hit speeds of 110mph

A teenager who hit speeds of 110mph on a rural road just four months after passing his test has been banned from the road.

Peter Cannard was followed by police officers as he sped at 105mph on the A96 and 110mph on the B9013 in Moray.

The 19-year-old lifeguard, whose plans to join the Armed Forces have been put on hold due to the court proceedings, hit the speeds on March 3 last year.

Fiscal depute Naomi Duffy-Welsh told Elgin Sheriff Court that police officers were on mobile patrol when they saw Cannard’s black Ford Fiesta directly in front of them on the A96 near Elgin at around 6.10pm.

Man accused of Summer Street assault

A man has appeared in court charged in connection with an alleged serious assault on Summer Street in Aberdeen.

Craig Hutchins, 29, faces three charges, including assault to severe injury and danger to life and possession of a controlled drug.

Police received reports of two men being assaulted in the Union Wynd area of Aberdeen at 2.10pm on Thursday July 28.

One of the men was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for treatment of their injuries.

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Stalker unable to be assessed due to lack of psychiatric hospital beds

A sheriff has been forced to intervene in the case of a high-risk sex offender after it was revealed that no hospital bed is available for him to undergo a psychiatric assessment.

John Coltart, 39, stalked an Aberdeen medical student by sending her sinister messages about Satan and claiming she was his wife.

Coltart had never met his victim but bombarded the woman with unwanted messages over nine months – and even claimed on Facebook that they were in a sexual relationship.

The Glenrothes man was eventually arrested after turning up at Aberdeen’s Foresterhill medical campus in a “hyper” state and saying he wanted to pay the woman a “surprise visit”.

First date ends in violence

A man threatened his new partner with violence on their first date and then encouraged her to commit suicide when she tried to end the relationship.

Ian Barney appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted carrying out a catalogue of verbal abuse and physical threats against his former partner at addresses in Aberdeen.

The 37-year-old carried out the abuse for nearly a month and made 80 calls to the woman in one day.

The court heard that Barney also called her a “prostitute”, a “scumbag” and insinuated that she was a bad mother.

Prang sparks street struggle

A man who struggled with a pensioner who accidentally bumped into the back of his Range Rover “let things get out of hand”, a court has been told.

James Morrison, 35, confronted the 72-year-old man who had pranged the back of his car while trying to park outside Keith Motorist DIY store in the town’s Mid Street.

The pensioner ended up on the ground after Morrison caught him seemingly trying to rub marks off the back of his black 4×4 following the collision on January 8 2020, Elgin Sheriff Court was told.

Fiscal depute Naomi Duffy-Welsh said the man “inadvertently collided” with the car and got out to check for damage when Morrison’s wife got out of the Range Rover and told him to “stay there” while she got her husband from inside the shop.

Housebreaker has found God

A ‘reformed’ Aberdeen housebreaker who broke into student halls and stole more than £1,000 of equipment and belongings has been spared a prison sentence.

Barry Kirton, 43, broke through a window of St Peter’s Halls of Residence at Aberdeen University and stole a laptop, a backpack, passport and keys.

Students returned to find their possessions were taken and that damage had been done to two kitchen windows.

The total sum of the items taken was £1,008.

Ex-boxer’s dog killed Ziggy

A former boxer whose dog attacked and killed an Aberdeen puppy gave the thumbs up as he walked out of court a free man today.

Craig Dick’s Staffordshire Bull Terrier ran at and repeatedly bit Toni Bennett’s nine-month-old Cavapoochon Ziggy as she walked him on playing fields in Sheddocksley.

Dick’s friend, Craig Strachan, punched the Staffie to death as he tried to separate the animals and Ziggy eventually had to be put down after suffering a catalogue of horrific injuries.

Both Dick, 34, and Strachan, 26, had been on trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court accused of a serious assault to danger of life on Brett Lynch at the playing fields on the same date, September 6, but the Crown ultimately dropped that charge.

Gardener clocked at 111mph

A gardener who was clocked speeding at 111mph was rushing to his girlfriend after she called to say she’d caught Covid and was feeling unwell.

Alexander Chesshire, 33, was so concerned for his now ex-partner that he broke the 70mph, 60mph and 50mph limits along the A92 near Hillside at Portlethen.

Fiscal depute Kiral Bonavino told Aberdeen Sheriff Court how the dad-of-one’s Volkswagen Passat was clocked at 111mph just after 9pm on March 19 this year.

Chesshire admitted speeding on that stretch of dual carriageway.

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Cannabis crash

A council worker who fell asleep after smoking cannabis in his car crashed into railings at an Aberdeen roundabout on the journey home.

Peter Brady had been smoking the drug near North Anderson Drive before a call from a relative spurred him into driving the 1.2 miles home.

But Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard how the 38-year-old didn’t get far and wrote of the car when it came to rest upon railings at the Haudagain roundabout on July 10 last year.

Fiscal depute Kiral Bonavino said police attended and officers immediately noted Brady was “unsteady on his feet, his pupils were dilated, and there was a strong smell of cannabis emanating from him”.

Drink-driver was swerving through city

A drink-driver caught “swerving” through Aberdeen city centre in the early hours of the morning had previously been caught drunk in charge of a car just one month before.

Pawel Czerwinski, 35, was more than double the legal limit when officers saw him driving “erratically” through the city on July 10 2020.

On June 19 he’d also been found by police in the passenger seat of his car while drunk – although he claimed he was only “listening to music”.

Police found him sitting in his car on Grampian Road and when they tried to arrest him he resisted, kicking and punching the two officers.

Risky level crossing manoeuvre

A director of an Aberdeenshire construction firm has been heavily fined after he drove through the barrier at a level crossing as the train was approaching.

Keith Sim, 46, accelerated under the barrier and found himself trapped on the line at Insch Rail Crossing, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.

Thankfully, a quick-thinking signal controller was on duty at the time and managed to raise the barrier so that Sim could get his car off the tracks.

Sim, who owns Sunnyside Construction, had been “under pressure at work” at the time of the incident, his solicitor said.

Benefits cheat worked in bakery

A pensioner who illegally claimed more than £40,000 in benefits while secretly working in Aberdeen bakeries has been spared a prison sentence.

Rose Shewan claimed a total of £41,383.20 in housing benefit and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) she was not entitled to between 2013 and 2018.

The 65-year-old said she was unable to work due to ill health, but did shifts at two Aberdeen bakeries over the period.

She was eventually rumbled in 2018 after an anonymous tip-off to the Department of Work and Pensions and claimed in interview that “things had gone too far” for her to come clean.

Domestic abuser climbed in window

A domestic abuser has avoided a prison sentence after he climbed through his partner’s bathroom window and told her he “hoped she died”.

Nicholas Lambert, 30, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted carrying out a “frightening incident” against his girlfriend after she’d locked him out of a house in Dyce.

Lambert then went to the bathroom window and ripped it open before climbing inside and continuing the verbally assault on the woman.

The court heard that Lambert told her he had pictures and videos of her he would disclose to her family.

‘Next time it’ll be your jugular’

An Aberdeen man who slashed a former friend’s neck in the middle of the street could be jailed.

Stewart Stoddard, 42, pled guilty to a charge of slashing Robert Muirhead’s neck on May 14 last year, leaving him injured and permanently disfigured.

After carrying out the mid-morning assault, Stoddard told his former pal: “Next time it’ll be your jugular.”

At Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court the Crown dropped part of the allegation that the injury suffered by Mr Muirhead was “severe”.

Woman put child’s life at risk

A woman who “put a child’s life at risk” by pushing a pram into oncoming traffic has been jailed.

Drug addict Jane McLean was struggling to stay upright and was speaking to herself when shocked onlookers saw her pushing the pram through Lossiemouth.

At one point McLean, 50, took the crying child – who was 15 months old and not her own – from the pram and looked like she might drop her before walking into traffic.

Thankfully, the motorist managed to hit the brakes but it was enough for concerned bystanders to call the police.

Man fined for singing Wu-Tang Clan

A man who used the n-word while singing along to a Wu-Tang Clan song has been hit with a £500 fine for breach of the peace.

Kyle Siegel, of Norgaet, in Lerwick, admitted uttering the word while he was in the toilets of the Scalloway Boating Club in the early hours of February 20.

But inside a nearby cubicle was a person of mixed race, who was “severely shocked” by the use of language.

Lerwick Sheriff Court was told Siegel did not know she was in a cubicle when he sang along to Wu-Tang Clan’s song Protect Ya Neck and no offence was intended.

Bomb threats spark major incident

A dad who called NHS24 and told them he had bomb-making equipment and had booby-trapped his home sparked a huge armed police response.

Alan Whyte told the call handler he’d taken a concoction of Class A drugs and was going to harm himself and others, claiming he was armed with “guns and stuff to blow the place up”.

The 33-year-old told them that he had “stuff for making homemade bombs” and that he’d make “booby traps” for police arriving at his Buckie home.

His threats prompted a major police response and his neighbours had to be evacuated from their homes in Brodie Avenue, Elgin Sheriff Court was told.

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