Our reporters have been sitting in courtrooms across the north and north-east this week and covered a wide variety of cases.
Gangster handed further jail time after trying to carry out organised crime from inside prison
A gangster has been handed extra jail time after he tried to carry out organised crime from inside prison.
Keith Whyte, 34, appeared via videolink at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he admitted attempting to orchestrate the use of almost £12,000 in cash for nefarious purposes.
Text messages between Whyte and two other people show he acted as the gang leader and ordered a female contact to hand over the money to another man.
Man called takeaway workers a racial slur and made religious jibes
A man called Inverness takeaway workers a racial slur and then made offensive religious jibes.
Tomas Karfik asked staff members at Max’s 2 on Lombard Street if they served halal meat before launching into his tirade.
The workers told him they did not and directed him to a sign stating the same, but he called them “Dirty p*** b******s” before making offensive references to key religious figures in Islam.
Man threatened to ‘cut off’ partner’s head when she revealed she was pregnant
A man has been ordered to stay away from his former partner after he threatened to “cut off her head” when she revealed she was pregnant.
Dawid Gierasimczuk, 40, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he admitted making terrifying and racist threats towards the woman in the days following her sharing picture of a positive pregnancy test.
Instead of being happy upon finding out the news, Gierasimczuk told his ex-partner that when he returned home, he would “do hell for her” and “go back to jail” if he had to.
Fraserburgh man threatened to run over partner who he thought was cheating
A Fraserburgh man who believed he was being cheated on has been fined after threatening to run over his former partner.
Ramunas Letukas appeared at Peterhead Sheriff Court for sentencing after he admitted engaging in abusive behaviour which targeted his then-partner over the course of six months last year.
The court heard the 41-year-old would repeatedly contact the woman to ask where she was and who she was with, and on one occasion visited her home three times in one day.
Pair appear in court after alleged serious assault in Invergordon
Two men have appeared in private at Inverness Sheriff Court following an alleged street attack in Invergordon last week.
Emergency services were called to Invergordon’s High Street at around 1.30am on Thursday, February 6, following reports of a disturbance.
Aberdeenshire salon owner caught five times the limit while doing Sober October
An Aberdeenshire beauty salon boss was caught drink-driving despite publicly pledging to give up booze for Sober October.
Gillian Macleod had managed to abstain from alcohol for almost the entire month but on October 30 she was found to be more than five times the limit.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told police stopped the 36-year-old’s red Audi TT near Potterton after the manner of her driving came to their attention.
Crying Fraserburgh serial shoplifter sent down despite pleas for a last chance
A prolific Fraserburgh shoplifter burst into tears after his pleas for a final chance fell on deaf ears and he was locked up for almost two years.
John McCormick, 33, became teary – and then abusive – as he pleaded with Sheriff Craig Findlater to be spared prison after he admitted to a series of thefts from in shops across Fraserburgh and Peterhead.
His shoplifting spree – carried out between April 2023 and January this year – targeted stores like Nickel and Dime, Tesco, and Asda and saw him making off with 27 blocks of cheese, vapes, electrical items and computer games. None of the items were recovered.
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Siege man armed with vacuum attachment demanded helicopter to London
A man armed with a vacuum attachment demanded a helicopter to London during a siege in Alness, a court has heard.
Hostage-taker Patrick Muldoon brandished the implement during an incident in the town’s Westford, claiming to have a firearm.
He had already held a knife to a man’s throat and made threats to kill his partner and stab police.
Peterhead serial drug driver had cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis in his system
A Peterhead man has been banned from the roads for two years after taking a cocktail of drugs and getting behind the wheel.
Aleksander Pekalski appeared at Peterhead Sheriff Court to plead guilty to having three different drugs in his system when he was pulled over on two separate occasions last year.
The 20-year-old was first stopped by constables in the afternoon of March 18 after concerned witnesses raised the alarm after noticing his driving on Longside Road in the port.
Inverness troublemaker gyrated on bar and declared he was a rapist
Staff at an Inverness pub were shocked when a drunk customer lay on their counter and declared he was involved in human trafficking and had raped a girl in Spain.
Conor Howell, 31, from Merseyside, was in Revolution Bar with three friends when the incident happened on June 19 last year.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told the group had bought a 1.75 litre bottle of vodka to drink between them.
Drunken yob pulled down trousers after trying to kick down stranger’s door
A drunken thug downed vodka and beer before pulling down his trousers and biting a police officer on the hand, a court has heard.
Kyle Miller, 25, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he admitted attempting to kick down the door of a stranger who had challenged him for being drunk.
When he was asked to leave, Miller shouted a series of obscenities before trying to kick down his door and throwing plant pots at his property.
Highland dealer texted drugs menu to council housing officer
A dealer was caught after he texted a drugs menu to his Highland Council housing officer.
Sebastian Percival had been discussing his tenancy over text with the worker before he sent them a text offering items including “ching” and “purple haze”.
The message promised “Best prices – you won’t find better than this.”
A search of his home later found cannabis, cash and scales, Inverness Sheriff Court was told.
Former court security guard convicted of raping woman in Aberdeen
A former court security guard has been found guilty of raping a woman in Aberdeen.
Buruhana Jabang, 37, was on trial at the High Court in Aberdeen where he was accused of restraining a woman at an address in the Mastrick area of the city before going on to rape her.
It took a jury of nine men and six women less than two hours to find Jabang guilty by majority verdict.
Peterhead car dealer who drove while banned told he’s on a ‘shoogly peg’
A Peterhead car dealer has been warned that he faces losing his driving licence after getting behind the wheel while serving a ban.
Eduard Burdin appeared at Peterhead Sheriff Court and pleaded guilty to driving his BMW X5 on the night of January 7 last year.
The 33-year-old had been serving a driving ban at the time, but following drinks at a local pub decided to take over from his friend and attempted to reverse the vehicle into his driveway. It was then that officers approached the businessman.
Highland foot fetishist paid teens for feet pics then asked for more explicit images
A foot fetishist offered to pay teenage girls up to £250 a month for pictures of their feet – then replied with photos of himself in a state of arousal, a court has heard.
Keith Mowat said the girls – aged 17 and 13 – could make money if they sent him the snaps but soon began to ask them to show him more intimate parts of their bodies.
When a 13-year-old victim did so, he shared those pictures with people that she knew, leaving her “embarrassed and distressed”.
Aberdeen paedophile dons bizarre latex mask as he flees court
An Aberdeen paedophile who downloaded more than 1,500 indecent images of children donned a bizarre latex mask as he fled court.
John Taylor, 34, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court after being found guilty at trial of possessing the sick hoard of images – many of which were of the most serious category.
Taylor – who downloaded the child abuse material over nearly four months – claimed his vile offence would “haunt him for the rest of his life”.
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Aberdeen dangerous driver overtook bus on blind bend
A man who attempted an overtake approaching a blind bend and into the path of an oncoming motorcyclist has admitted dangerous driving.
Mikhal Oshkin was trying to pass a bus with 10 passengers on board on the B9176 south of Aultnamain.
He pulled into the oncoming carriageway just before a bend, causing an oncoming motorcyclist to take evasive action.
Four men in court after raid on £200k cannabis farm in Blackburn
Four Vietnamese men appeared in court yesterday after the police raided a home in Blackburn and discovered a cannabis farm inside.
Police Scotland confirmed that an “extensive cannabis cultivation” was found at a property in Tradlin Circle with 278 illegal plants seized.
The group was arrested and charged following the discovery of the £200,000 drug operation, which was sparked by a tip-off to the authorities.
Young Elgin driver who pulled handbrake turns during car meet told to stop relying on parents
An Elgin 20-year-old has been told to take some responsibility for his actions and stop relying on his parents after buckling to peer pressure and driving carelessly.
Jan Kramer pled guilty to driving without due care during an appearance at Elgin Sheriff Court.
The Walkers Shortbread seasonal worker had been collared by police shortly after 10.30pm on May 2 2023 when they spotted him racing through the Lossie Green car park without his lights on and pulling a handbrake turn.
Highland hotel firm loses legal case against bank and must stump up £11.6m
A renowned Highland hotel firm has lost its court bid against a bank that insulted its boss – and now faces a £11.6m bill.
Macdonald Hotels Ltd (MHL) – which owns hotels and resorts across Scotland – took the Bank of Scotland to court after expletive-laden emails came to light.
Bank of Scotland staff labelled MHL’s chief executive Donald Macdonald “Bonnie Prince Charlie fighting London”.
They accused him of having an “islander mentality” and vowed not to “take any s***t” from him.
Sentence deferred on Peterhead woman who bought cannabis ‘in bulk’
A Peterhead woman concerned in the supply of drugs will be sentenced next month after officers raided her home and found cannabis worth up to £2,000.
Chelsea Hutchison, 32, appeared at her hometown sheriff court to plead guilty to supplying the class B drug on November 16 last year.
The case, which had been earmarked for trial, faced a delayed start while expert witnesses were given the opportunity to examine the evidence.
Westhill man branded ‘beast’ after raping woman in flat
A Westhill man has been jailed for rape after a jury was told his victim ran into a residential street half naked and screamed for help.
The woman had earlier dubbed her attacker Don Webley “a beast” and pleaded for help in messages before she fled from the flat where she was subjected to the ordeal.
Webley, 42, of Mackie Place, Westhill, had denied raping the woman at his then home at a flat in Granton Medway, Edinburgh, on September 18 2022 and claimed in a special defence that sexual activity between them was consensual.
Former Dingwall carer who threatened to gut vulnerable pensioner ‘like a pig’ spared jail
A former care worker who filmed herself crawling into a vulnerable pensioner’s room and threatening him has been handed 18 months supervision – leaving her victim’s family “saddened and disappointed”.
Shannon Ashley Anderson targeted William Maguire at Fodderty House Care Home in Dingwall, telling him: “I’ll gut you like a pig.”
This week at Inverness Sheriff Court she was placed on a community payback order following a structured deferred sentence, prompting Mr Maguire’s daughter to comment: “This outcome does not feel like justice for our Dad.”