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

Pay row builder used dentist’s credit card

A disgruntled Aberdeen builder spent £40,000 on a dental surgery’s credit card in a bid to reclaim money he says he was due.

Pawel Lukczwics had been carrying out works at a St Andrews property for Shetland Surgery Ltd, but costs quickly rose and a pay dispute broke out.

Unhappy at not receiving the payment he felt he was due, Lukczwics took matters into his own hands.

The 35-year-old used the dental firm’s credit card, which he’d been given to buy materials, and struck a deal to pay £40,000 to another company in Ellon, who would then give him cash.

Man sniggered as he choked wife

A sniggering serial domestic abuser has been jailed after he choked his wife while she cradled their infant son in her arms.

Tomas Pocta laughed and mocked his partner – who thought she was going to die – as he carried out the disturbing drunken attack at an address in Aberdeen.

Jailing him, Sheriff Graham Buchanan said the 41-year-old posed a “risk of causing serious harm” to any future partner.

Fiscal depute Dylan Middleton told Aberdeen Sheriff Court Pocta had been out drinking with friends during the evening of Thursday January 13 this year.

Dealer’s secret stash

A former fisherman-turned-drug dealer has been spared jail after police discovered a secret stash of heroin hidden under the floor of his home.

Thomas Robertson was found to have more than £9,000 worth of the Class A drug at the property in Fraserburgh.

A judge told the 44-year-old at the High Court in Edinburgh: “You have pled guilty to a very serious trafficking offence involving a Class A drug”.

Lord Arthurson said that he noted the offence occurred on a single day and the value of the drugs recovered.

Domestic abuser ‘driven by hurt’

An Inverness man who choked his partner because he was “hurt” that the relationship was coming to an end has been told to stay away from her for three years.

Inverness Sheriff Court heard that Rudney Boelijn, 40, was “driven by hurt” when he twice seized the woman by the neck during an incident at their home in Castle Heather Drive on June 6 last year.

Boelijn previously admitted assault to injury and danger of life and assault to injury. Sentence had been deferred for a background report.

Defence counsel Bill Adam told Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald: “He is very sorry for the distress caused and accepts his actions were completely unacceptable.”

‘Jekyll and Hyde’ housebreaker

A housebreaker described as “a Jekyll and Hyde character” was snared by police when he left his wallet at the scene of a crime.

Lee Fairbairn appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted breaking into an Aberdeen property during broad daylight and stealing a television.

The 35-year-old was disturbed in the act by the homeowner, who he punched in the face and then fled.

However, he didn’t get away with it for long – police found that Fairbairn had left his wallet behind, which had his name and date of birth inside.

Aristocrat’s danger-driving crash

A north-east aristocrat has been banned from the road after seriously injuring a nurse and her biker husband in a horror crash involving his Porsche.

Granville Gordon, the 13th Marquess of Huntly, claimed he “didn’t see” James and Mhairi Cameron’s motorbike on the A957 when he pulled out of a junction.

James and Mhairi, a passenger on the back, were sent flying and needed surgery for a catalogue of broken bones following the incident on September 27 2020.

Their injuries caused Mrs Cameron, a nurse, to miss work for five months while her husband was unable to return to his job as a traffic technician at Angus Council for three months.

Fort William rapist branded ‘risk to public’

A former greenkeeper at a St Andrews golf course, who asked a woman why she was crying moments after raping her, has been jailed for 12 years.

Craig Slezas, who is originally from Fort William, was caged after being convicted of sexually assaulting four women during an eight-year campaign of offending.

A court heard how Slezas, 33, raped four females and continues to maintain his innocence.

However, he was convicted of offences committed between January 2008 and January 2016.

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Cyclist hurt by drug-driver

A drug-driver who sped around a bend and lost control of his Jaguar knocked a cyclist off his bike, causing the 65-year-old to break his collar bone.

Matthew Morrison seriously injured the cyclist after clipping his bike as he drove at excessive speed near Fort William.

Morrison – formerly of Gairlochy, Spean Bridge but now living in Malta – appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court.

He admitted to causing serious injury by dangerous driving while having an over-the-safe limit amount of cannabis in his system.

Men jailed for cocktail bar assault

Two men have been jailed after they attacked and stamped on the head of a bouncer at a popular Aberdeen cocktail bar.

Wessley Goldthorpe and Robert Valera, both 26, set upon two doormen at Dusk bar on Langstane Place after their group was denied entry because they were wearing football colours.

The fight ended with one bouncer lying injured on the ground as Goldthorpe repeatedly stamped on his head.

Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard the other doorman had to be taken to hospital after suffering a broken nose.

Man slashed woman’s buttock during sex game

A man slashed a woman’s buttock with a knife after hanging her from a hook on the ceiling during a sex game gone wrong.

Inverness Sheriff Court heard that Isaac Bunce had first tied up the woman as well as blindfolded and gagged her.

But the 54-year-old went too far when he took a small knife to her backside, leaving her with a scar.

He admitted assaulting the woman and cutting her on the body with a knife at a house in Inverness.

Paint stripper revenge attack

A man poured paint stripper through the letterbox of a home and inadvertently poisoned his victims’ pet dog.

Robert Mullen flung the toxic liquid over and inside the Aberdeen home resulting in the family pet needing vet treatment after digesting the chemicals.

The 25-year-old carried out the vandalism at a house on Buckie Avenue after he’d “reached the end of his tether” over an unpaid debt, Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard.

Fiscal depute Victoria Kerr said the attack on the couple’s Bridge of Don home and their red Renault Clio took place on the morning on of September 6 2019.

Snapchat creep

A man who sent sexual messages to a 15-year-old girl asking her to meet him romantically has apologised to his victim, a court has heard.

Greg Robertson admitted messaging the schoolgirl on the social media app Snapchat and requesting they meet up – even stating in one of the messages that his unlawful behaviour was “possibly wrong”.

The 38-year-old sent a number of ‘snaps’ to the underage teen, suggesting they meet up in his car and “kiss” and also asked the girl if she could “keep a secret?”.

But Robertston was soon caught when the girl spoke to her mum and showed her the messages he’d sent.

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Chase driver jailed

An uninsured Ford Fiesta driver who crushed a police officer during a high-speed chase through Aberdeen has been jailed for three years.

Charlie Deans raced away from the police at speeds of up to 90mph during the seven-mile-long pursuit through the city from around 3.20am on September 22 2019.

The 25-year-old, who was carrying two passengers at the time, was finally stopped when a Stinger device was used to puncture his tyres.

But as Deans reversed to avoid capture, he caused Sergeant Graeme Smith crippling injuries when the officer was pinned against his police Land Rover.

Ex-policeman joins sex offenders list

A police officer who sexually assaulted a female colleague has been placed on the sex offenders register after an investigation into a toxic “boys’ club” culture at a Moray police station.

Now-retired policeman Herbert Scott Gallop touched Gemma MacRae’s bottom and other parts of her body, despite her telling him not to.

The 54-year-old single father-of-one has been placed on the sex offenders register for one year and handed a supervision order for the same length of time.

It’s the only prosecution and conviction to result from a 15-month-long police watchdog probe into allegations of bullying and misogyny at Forres police office.

Dad guilty of propositioning young girl

A father of two who showed a “very concerning attitude towards young females” has been found guilty of propositioning a teenager in a shop.

Bruce Fahmi was working as a security guard when he approached the 14-year-old shopper before asking for her phone number and if she’d like to meet him after work.

He was 37 when he approached the girl and said: “I have been promising myself to talk to you … can we meet up? Can I get your number?”

However the now 45-year-old told a trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court that his grasp of the English language was too poor at the time to form such phrases, given they “do not exist” in his native Arabic.

Man guilty of sexual assault

A man told a woman his mum had cancer and asked for a hug before pushing her onto a bed and attempting to strip her from the waist down.

The incident was the culmination of a course of unwanted “dirty or flirty” behaviour towards the woman by Robin Parker, which included offering her money to see her private parts and pulling down her trousers to touch her against her will.

The victim was one of two women who gave evidence against Parker in a trial at Inverness Sheriff Court.

The other told how he had targeted her after offering lifts, on one occasion showing her a sexual image and requesting she do the same.

McDonald’s attack sparked by fat jibes

A father-of-four left another man with a broken jaw following a 2am bust-up at McDonald’s, a court has heard.

Mohammed Iqbal’s victim had to be taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary after the violent clash outside the fast-food restaurant in Bucksburn on February 7 2019.

Defence solicitor Paul Barnett told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that that horrifying assault was sparked by insulting remarks from the victim’s group of friends about one of Iqbal pals.

Fiscal depute Lydia Ross said Iqbal’s victim had been enjoying food from the Inverurie Road outlet with three friends at 2.30am and was about to get into his car when he was “punched with a closed fist a couple of times to his face”.

City centre police chase

A speeding driver who led police on a chase through Aberdeen city centre has claimed he was being unfairly targeted by officers because of his race and expensive car.

Mohammed Rahman’s blue BMW first came to the attention of police at midnight on August 2 2020, due to the speed it was being driven along Gallowgate.

When officers activated their blue lights, the 38-year-old took off at speed before skidding around a corner, running a red light and speeding through a busy pedestrian area.

Fiscal depute Sean Ambrose told Aberdeen Sheriff Court how police were in a marked car when they gave chase along Gallowgate, Berry Street, Loch Street and St Andrew’s Street.

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