An Aberdeen woman who tried to call 500 defence witnesses, including sheriffs and the chief constable, has branded her case a “miscarriage of justice” as she was ordered to do unpaid work.
Kimberly Baff clashed with various court officials during a fiery five-day trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, following which she was found guilty of threatening to torch dog kennels.
The 35-year-old repeatedly raised her voice and interrupted fiscal depute Andrew McMann and Sheriff David Clapham, at one point forcing the exasperated sheriff to adjourn.
Despite Baff’s insistence that the sheriff “must” hear evidence from her 500-plus defence witnesses, the court ruled they were not relevant to the case.
‘I’m just going to draw a line under the matter’
Baff, of Jute Street, Aberdeen, denied the charges against her but was found guilty of resisting, obstructing or hindering police by tensing her arms, clenching her fists, raising her arms in a bid to avoid arrest and struggling with officers.
She was also convicted of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by threatening to set fire to kennels on August 9 2022, repeatedly shouting and swearing and making threats.
It is not known which kennels the threats related to, but it revolved around a dispute about a dog’s ashes.
Sentence had been deferred for a psychiatric report, to which Baff responded “are yous ripping the utter p**s?”, but after no report was available, Sheriff Clapham opted just to sentence her.
He said: “The position is my attempts to obtain a psychiatric report have not been successful.”
Baff replied: “It’s clear the psychiatric report is not getting done. I’ve contacted Cornhill several times myself.”
The sheriff invited Baff to address him regarding the case and she began to say the fiscal had “misled” the court in relation to communication between her and the Crown over her extensive witness list.
Sheriff Clapham clarified: “Is there anything you’d like to say about the matter of what sentence I should impose?”
Baff asked the sheriff to desert the case, citing the “deliberate attempt to contact every single one of the witnesses and tell them not to turn up at court by the PF”.
The sheriff said: “You having been found guilty, what remains for me is to impose a sentence.
“I’m just going to draw a line under the matter and impose a community payback order with 100 hours of unpaid work.”
Baff continued to talk about issues with communication between her and the Crown, insisting: “This is causing another miscarriage of justice.”
She was then asked to leave the dock so that the next case could call.
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