Weekend court roll – our round-up of the most-read cases of the week

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

Yob claimed Covid and spat on cop

On Monday we told how a yob once branded “Scotland’s youngest alcoholic” was warned he could face jail after claiming he had Covid and spitting on a police officer.

Lee Dyce, 35, also produced a knife at one point during the dramatic incident on Oldtown Road in Inverness, forcing officers to retreat.

Dyce told police, who had attended at the request of the ambulance service to deal with a woman who needed medical attention, that he had Covid before pushing an officer in the chest.

He later spat on an officer’s forehead at hospital, where he had been taken because of his drunken condition.

Man accused of murdering wife

A north-east man who moved to America to start a new life has been charged with murdering his wife with a handgun at an apartment building in Mississippi.

Wayne Sydney Fraser, 45, who is originally from Mintlaw, was arrested by sheriff’s deputies after they were called to the property in the town of Caledonia at 8am on Thursday December 30.

Inside they discovered the body of his wife Natalie Ryan-Fraser, 55, as well as a nine-millimetre gun, Lowndes County Sheriff Eddie Hawkins said.

Coroner Greg Merchant told the Mississippi Dispatch that Natalie, a senior English instructor who lived in San Angelo, Texas, was visiting her husband as he was working in the area at the time.

Curtains row sparked brutal assault on pensioner

A Lochaber crofter who brutally attacked an 83-year-old woman during a row over some curtains has been warned he could face jail.

Colin Campbell viciously attacked the pensioner as she tried to help his own elderly mother change her curtains, leaving the woman with broken bones and missing teeth.

The 50-year-old accused the woman of “interfering” in the house before he dragged her outside onto a patio and punched her to the head and body, Inverness Sheriff Court heard.

The pensioner was left with a broken forearm, which needed a cast, and a fractured nose. She also lost two of her front teeth following the traumatic assault.

Man in court facing sex assault charge

A man has appeared in court in Inverness in connection with a sexual assault in the city.

Marius Macura, of Inverness, appeared from custody in private facing one charge of sexual assault and a second of threatening or abusive behaviour.

The 39-year-old made no plea at the petition hearing, was committed for further examination and remanded in custody.

The charges relate to an incident in the Brown Street area of the city in the early hours of November 24 last year.

Hot tub crime machine

An Elgin man was caught breaching bail when he fell into a drunken sleep at his partner’s house on Hogmanay and didn’t notice that a hot tub had caught fire.

Steven Clark had been bailed on December 9 on the condition that he not consume alcohol, contact his partner or enter the street where she lives.

But on New Year’s Eve he decided to ignore the rules in order to collect a bicycle from the empty Elgin property and found himself unexpectedly at the centre of a 999 emergency.

As Clark slept in a bedroom a fire broke out in the hot tub, prompting a call to police and the fire brigade from a concerned member of the public, who spotted the smoke.

Ex-cop caused school bus crash

An ex-police officer whose unsafe overtake on a country road caused another car to hit a school bus was spared a roads ban on Wednesday.

Neil McPherson’s careless driving on the B993 near Monymusk forced three other drivers to carry out emergency stops to avoid hitting him head-on.

One of those vehicles was an empty school bus returning to its depot at around 3.45pm on September 11 last year.

The 57-year-old ex-cop was heading towards Kemnay from Monymusk when he tried to overtake both a car and the 39-seater bus in front of him but failed to see the sharp left turn ahead of him, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.

Man threatened to murder social worker

A social worker was forced to flee her home in fear and take refuge in a hotel after a yob threatened to murder her.

Kyle Swannie made the vile threat in a furious phone call to the woman’s colleague, during which he labelled her a “rat” and warned he would slit her throat.

The 25-year-old told the woman’s colleague that he knew where they both lived, and that her handling of his case was “going to cause a murder”.

His threats were taken so seriously that the social worker was advised to spend a night in a hotel for her own safety until Swannie was apprehended.

Man accused of fire at Highland hotel

A man appeared in court charged in connection with a major fire at a Highland hotel.

Firefighters battled the blaze at the West Highland Hotel in Mallaig for 10 hours on Monday evening.

The family-run establishment was left badly damaged in the wake of the fire.

Now Jack Salter, 24, of Fort William, has appeared in private before Sheriff David Sutherland at Inverness Sheriff Court.

Bricklayer’s McDonald’s rammy

An Aberdeen bricklayer who mixed his medication with alcohol wound up being booted out of a fast food restaurant for causing a disturbance.

Ryan Merson became a menace after he mixed antidepressants with alcohol and got himself thrown out of the McDonald’s restaurant in the city centre.

The 23-year-old lashed out at security staff when he was asked to leave the Union Street restaurant at around 8.30pm on December 11 this year.

Police were soon on the scene but Merson, a dad-of-one, escalated the situation by trying to punch an officer and calling then “pigs”, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.

Student who had indecent images of children was ‘groomed’

A student who had 55 indecent images of children on his computer had himself been the victim of online grooming, a court has been told.

Alexander Hall avoided being sent to prison after he appeared for sentence at Kirkwall Sheriff Court.

The court heard the 19-year-old felt relieved after police arrived at his Orkney home as that had ended his grooming ordeal.

Hall previously admitted on indictment possessing the indecent images at the property in Evie on December 9, 2020.

Firm appealing judge’s compensation ruling

The judge who awarded a young boy £290,000 compensation following his diver dad’s death off the north coast failed to apply “correct” legal tests in his deliberations, a court has heard.

Advocate Andrew Smith QC said Lord Sandison didn’t properly assess evidence in proceedings brought last year to the Court of Session by Vincent Warner’s mum Debbie.

The nine-year-old was awarded the sum following a judgement delivered by Lord Sandison in September 2021.

His mother Debbie raised an action on Vincent’s behalf at Scotland’s highest civil court.

Anniversary arrest

A husband’s wedding anniversary weekend away with his wife turned from romantic to horrific when he was arrested for screaming that she was a “whore”.

Dragan Danilov had arranged a two-night break at Aberdeen’s Ardoe House Hotel as a surprise for his wife on their second anniversary.

But an argument broke out between the pair and Danilov ended up spending a night in the cells instead, Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard.

The 32-year-old, originally from Macedonia but now living in Montrose, was overheard calling his wife a “slut” and a “whore”.

Pervert admits videoing sexual assault

On Thursday a pervert has admitted removing a sleeping woman’s clothing then filming her sexual assault on video.

Laura Miller touched their victim on her private parts and breasts when she was not in a position to consent.

The 29-year-old had been due to stand trial at Inverness Sheriff Court on two charges relating to alleged incidents in 2017 but pled guilty to an amended charge.

Miller – who was described in court as gender-neutral – admitted sexually assaulting the woman at a property on the Isle of Skye in 2017.

Drink-driving lorry driver

A north-east lorry driver who was caught swerving between lanes of the A90 while more than four times the drink-drive limit has been jailed.

Timothy Humphreys has now lost his job and his freedom after being spotted struggling to keep control of his HGV between Stracathro and Stonehaven at around 6.30pm on November 21 last year.

Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told he had turned to alcohol to cope with the grief of losing his 15-year-old son Kevin to leukaemia on Christmas Day 2001.

The 60-year-old, who has previous drink-driving convictions, was branded “exceptionally irresponsible” by Sheriff Graham Buchanan as he locked him up for six months.

Abusive partner sentenced

A terrified woman ran from her home with her child in her arms to hide after her ex-partner entered the house and threatened to “burn it down”, a court has heard.

Kieran Munro, 24, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted that on various occasions between October 19 and 23 last year he had entered the woman’s home uninvited and chased her through the property.

The court also heard that he followed the woman around Aberdeen and turned up outside her home where he banged on the windows and threatened to burn it down.

It culminated in the woman running petrified from the building while clutching her child and hiding from him.

Munro, of Springhill Terrace Aberdeen, pleaded guilty to one charge of engaging in a course of behaviour that was abusive towards his former partner.

Munro’s defence agent Paul Barnett described his client’s behaviour as “out of character” and that it had happened due to “the trauma” of the breakdown of the relationship.

He added: “He does express disgust at his behaviour and recognises that he shouldn’t have done what he did.”

As an alternative to a prison sentence, Sheriff Graham Buchanan sentenced the 24-year old first offender to a community payback order with 12 months of supervision and ordered him to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.

He also imposed a non-harassment order banning Munro from approaching the woman for five years.

Aberdeenshire hare coursers sentenced

A gang of hare coursers was caught after mobile phone messages and footage were recovered.

The three Aberdeenshire men had travelled to Brechin to take part in the illegal hunting.

They had been using dogs to hunt the wild animals in fields but the authorities were alerted when local people realised what they were doing.

Peter Anderson, Philip Starr and Phillip Wilson, all from Macduff, had previously pled guilty to wildlife offences at Forfar Sheriff Court and have now been sentenced.

Oil worker denies plane charges

An oil and gas worker has been banned from stepping foot in Aberdeen International Airport after being charged with drunkenness and threatening behaviour onboard a plane.

Jason Harris, 54, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court following his removal from a BA1307 British Airways flight from Aberdeen to London on Wednesday.

The flight was delayed on the tarmac for an hour and a half while Harris was ejected from the flight and arrested by police.

The offshore worker now faces seven charges, including entering the aircraft while drunk, leaving his seat as the aeroplane taxied before take-off and shouting swearing and acting in an aggressive manner towards the cabin crew.

Ankle-biters taken away from dog owner

A woman has been banned from keeping dogs for five years after three families pushing prams with babies were attacked by two aggressive Jack Russells.

Lucky and Plucky bit ankles and targeted mums in Kyle of Lochalsh on several occasions last year.

They were under the care of Catherine Joyce, 34, who admitted three charges of failing to keep them under control.

Inverness Sheriff Court had previously been told that Lucky first jumped up on a woman as she pushed her baby in a pram along Station Road on January 22 2021.

Man accused over runaway car at Stonehaven rail crash scene

A man is facing court accused of injuring firefighters who were responding to the Stonehaven train derailment by leaving the handbrake off his vehicle, causing it to roll down a hill and crash into them.

It’s alleged Neil Bonar’s runaway car injured four firefighters and caused two of them to plunge into river waters at the scene of the fatal rail crash on August 12 2020.

A huge emergency service response was at the site of the derailment at Carmont, just south of Stonehaven, when Bonar is alleged to have parked his car at nearby Elfhill Farm.

It is claimed the 65-year-old left it unattended at the edge of a steep embankment and failed to properly secure it by applying the handbrake or engaging the gears.

Cruise control crash

A driver was using cruise control when he caused a horrific smash that severely injured another motorist on the A96.

Damian Kukulski took a sharp bend on the dual carriageway near Mill of Pitcaple too fast and his car veered off the road and hit the barrier.

Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard how the 35-year-old’s vehicle then rebounded off the crash barrier and ended up facing oncoming traffic in the opposing lane.

The resulting smash left another driver trapped in his vehicle with serious injuries that hospitalised him for over a week. More than one year on and he still receives physiotherapy as a result of the crash.

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