A drunken skipper who vandalised a fishing boat and put it out of action for 10 days has been ordered to pay compensation.
Stephen Cupples was found in the wheelhouse of the Bon Ami in Lochinver Harbour, surrounded by smeared blood and smashed navigation and electrical equipment.
Now a sheriff in Tain has ordered him to cover the costs of repairing the equipment and to do unpaid work in the community.
Cupples, 32, was sentenced at Tain Sheriff Court after a hearing failed to clarify the level of loss to the business as a result of the vandalism – which Cupples had admitted in April of last year.
A previous hearing had been told that the boat had been out of action for 10 days as a result – losing the owner around £15,000 in earnings.
But solicitor David Patterson had told the court: “The £15,000 figure is just made up.”
Drunken skipper
Following Cupple’s guilty plea, fiscal depute Adelle Gray told the court it was between 7 and 8pm on April 21 2024 when a Highland Council employee was made aware of a “skipper who had been drinking”
She said: “The witness […] was aware that the skipper in question was in charge of a vessel in the Lochinver Harbour.”
He was told Cupples had left a bar and was on the way back to the vessel.
When he boarded the vessel, Cupples was seen to have started started the engine and was shouting. But when the worker arrived he saw the skipper “apparently asleep in the captain’s chair”.
He was later alerted that the accused was “causing a disturbance in the wheelhouse” and was “banging and crashing around” while “clearly intoxicated and agitated”.
The court heard he was: “Grabbing things and smashing things up” leading to police being called and boarding the boat.
“They noted there was blood smeared on numerous surfaces in the wheelhouse and significant damage to navigation and electrical equipment,” Ms Gray said.
Cupples, of Garval Road, Tarbert, was arrested and the owner of the boat was contacted.
“He (the owner) confirmed he was not covered by insurance and sustained a substantial loss that he estimates to be around £15,000,” Ms Gray said, adding that the boat had been out of action for 10 days while the owner had the damage repaired.
“The average catch for a 10-day period would be around £15,000,” she said.
But, noting that the sentence had been previously deferred for a clarification of this figure, Cupples’ solicitor David Patterson said: “The owner of the boat is unable to provide clarification because the £15,000 figure is just made up.”
At the latest calling fiscal depute Martina Eastwood explained that documentation to support the figure was not yet available, but could be gathered in advance of a further hearing, should one be set.
Sheriff Neil Wilson, however, noted that the facts of the case as agreed at the point of the guilty plea mentioned only a cost of damage of £5009.85 and proceeded to sentence on that basis, warning Cupples: “It may well be that the owner of the boat may, by other means, seek to recover further sums of money from you.”
Solicitor David Patterson, for Cupples, told the court the former Skipper had lost his job as a result of the incident.
He said: “He consumed far too much alcohol for whatever reason he started to act in this manner – he does recall very little.
“He himself is quite surprised that he acted in this manner – he doesn’t really know why, it is something he does regret.”
Sheriff Wilson told Cupples: “You caused considerable financial loss and other inconvenience.”
He ordered him to pay compensation in the sum of £5009.85 and to complete 120 hours of unpaid work in the community.