Our reporters have been sitting in courtrooms across the north and north-east this week and covered a wide variety of cases.
Baseball bat confrontation
A man has been handed unpaid work after arming himself with a baseball bat to confront a suspected parcel thief.
Dillon Thomson, 20, was photographed with the bat by a neighbour who overhead the confrontation in the street.
And when police traced him at his home address he immediately confessed to having the bat, but explained he had been arguing with the man he claimed had stolen a parcel from outside his front door.
Bleach attacker jailed
An Aberdeen street attacker who squirted bleach at members of the public has been jailed.
Aleksander Sosnowski, 33, admitted spraying his unsuspecting victims with the toxic cleaning liquid near a BP petrol station on King Street in Aberdeen.
He also stubbed a lit cigarette out on another man’s forehead outside a city primary school.
Man had knives at pubs
A petrol station attendant who was denied booze by Aberdeen pub staff was roaming the streets with a large bread knife.
Diloshan Siva, 29, couldn’t get served at both The Bobbin and Red Lion pubs before staff noticed that he was carrying a blade.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that despite having knives at both pubs, Siva did not brandish the blades or threaten any customers.
Drink-driver killed Moray great-gran
A drink-driver claims he has no memory of killing a Moray pensioner in a horrific head-on crash.
Shaun Munro, 28, ploughed into Katrina Smith after going onto the wrong side of the road on the A96 near Dyke in Moray on April 28 2019.
Katrina, 76, never survived having been found slumped in her now upturned Peugeot as it lay in bushes following the smash.
Teen accused of Torry attempted murder
A teenager has appeared in court charged with attempted murder after a man was found on an Aberdeen street with multiple stab wounds.
Police were called to Torry’s Balnagask Road, near its junction with Girdleness Road, on the evening of Tuesday January 11 following reports of a disturbance.
A 22-year-old man was found seriously injured with a number of stab wounds and was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where his condition was described as stable.
Angler grew cannabis for fish
A Banchory fisherman who claims he was growing cannabis plants to use as bait says he is “absolutely terrified” of going to prison.
Trent Rudd, 63, was caught by police attempting to dispose of more than a dozen cannabis plants in his back garden.
When quizzed by officers Rudd insisted he had bought the seeds on eBay for innocent reasons and intended to use them to catch fish, not get high.
Police valued the plants at between £2,600 and £10,000.
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Co-op crash blamed on sledging incident
A dad who ploughed his car through a brick wall did it because he was concussed after banging his head while sledging with his kids two days before, a court has been told.
Christopher Farmer, 48, was spotted driving “at high speed” and “in an erratic manner” in Wick and ended up smashing into a wall at the town’s Co-op supermarket.
A roadside breath test came back negative but he was diagnosed with possible concussion after being taken to hospital for a check-up following the incident.
In the dock in his dressing gown
A man has appeared in court in his dressing gown and pyjamas after spending the weekend in custody following an angry confrontation with his neighbour.
Alan Henry, 50, phoned the police himself after banging on his upstairs neighbour’s door and shouting about how much noise they were making.
The startled neighbour and a friend had been making dinner and denied making too much noise.
‘It was Covid not cocaine’
A drug-driver who ploughed into a snowbank in a supermarket car park insists it was Covid, not cocaine, that caused the crash.
Bystanders alerted the emergency services after Finlay Hope was spotted driving erratically outside Tain’s Tesco.
A drug wipe confirmed he’d taken cocaine but at court his solicitor said his demeanour was “inconsistent” with cocaine use.
Buckfast breakfast robbery
A woman has been jailed after carrying out a breakfast-time robbery at an Aberdeen shop.
Joanna Collins demanded the cashier at Bedford Stores open the till and hand over money before making off with cigarettes, £80 in cash and Buckfast.
The shop worker initially refused but finally had to step aside as Collins, 25, barged behind the counter and started helping herself, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Piggybank thief
A woman stole hundreds of pounds worth of goods from an Aberdeen family’s home – and even raided a child’s piggybank.
Opportunistic Kerry Whyte, known as Ellington, took advantage of the property being left insecure in the Hilton area of the city.
The homeowner had nipped out for half an hour to pick up his children, but returned to find the thief had helped herself to jewellery, perfume, a hoover, and even the piggybank.
The 41-year-old was eventually caught after cops found her fingerprints at the scene.
Trio in court over alleged lockdown party
Three people are facing court over an alleged lockdown party in Aberdeen.
While Downing Street staff including Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak are to be handed fixed penalty notices for lockdown-defying gatherings, a man and two women from Aberdeen are facing the prospect of a trial.
Christopher Munro, known as Christie, 30, of Creel Court, Cove, Stephanie Wozniak, 30, and Paula McGarvie, 28, all deny contravening Covid rules by attending an indoor gathering at a property in Seaton Walk consisting of people from more than one household on March 27 2021.
Prison cell rammy
Prison officers had to don riot gear to deal with two drugged-up inmates, one trashing their cell and the other throwing bricks at staff.
One officer suffered a broken finger in the incident and more than £2,000 of damaged was caused at the Inverness prison cell.
Russell Mackinnon, 36, of Riverbank, Broadford, Skye, and Morgan Stubbings, 23, of Merchiston Street, Wick, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court via video link.
TV kicker in court
An “immature” teenager kicked over his ex-girlfriend’s TV when she wouldn’t take him back.
Jack Robinson, 19, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted turning up drunk at his former partner’s home at 1am and professing his undying love.
However, when the woman told him to go away he kicked over her TV and knocked a glass unit to the ground.
Both items smashed and were unable to be repaired as a result of Robinson’s behaviour.
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Drink-driving care home worker
A drink-driving care home worker was almost three times the limit when she let her car roll into an Aberdeen taxi before fleeing the scene.
Rusztyk was seen swerving onto the wrong side of the road in Aberdeen before letting the car roll backwards into a taxi and fleeing the scene of the accident.
As well as being almost three times the drink-drive limit the 31-year-old also had no valid licence and no insurance, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Man accused of attempting to murder five cops
A 40-year-old man appeared in court charged with the attempted murder of five police officers by throwing Molotov cocktail-type bottles at them.
The charges arise from an armed stand-off at a block of flats in Inverness’ Polvanie View on March 31, where a man was eventually shot by police.
Krzystof Andrusczak also faced charges of wilful fire-raising and possessing two knives and a metal chain.
Jilted man pretended to be dead
A man bombarded a former partner with calls and even pretended to be dead when she broke off their online relationship, a court has heard.
Brett Hagon, 50, persistently contacted the woman after she cut ties with him.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that Hagon made 27 calls to the woman in one day, as well as leaving eight voicemails and numerous text messages.
Trawlerman guilty of illegal fishing
The skipper of a shellfish trawler has been found guilty of illegal fishing in a marine protected zone on Scotland’s north west coast.
Alex Murray was convicted yesterday following a three-day trial at Stornoway Sheriff Court.
The 56-year-old, of Lewis, was in charge of the FV Star of Annan while it was operating within the Wester Ross Marine Protection Area.
Four in court over drugs haul
Four people have appeared in court after drugs worth more than £100,000 were seized from an Aberdeen city centre flat.
Police recovered a stash of heroin and crack cocaine after a raid at a property on Victoria Street on Wednesday.
It has been estimated the illegal substances hold a street value of around £115,000.
Danger driver killed 23-year-old in crash
A newly qualified driver who owned a powerful BMW has been convicted of causing the death of a “lovely” and “bubbly” woman by driving dangerously.
Raymond Ward, 29, passed his test three months before his BMW 218 D Sports Coupe collided with a purple Ford Fiesta being driven by Claire Anderson.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard how the horrifying smash took place on the A964 road between Kirkwall and Orphir on June 14 2019.
Motorists saw Ward driving the car on the wrong side of the road moments before the collision.
Grinning rapist behind bars
A man grinned and laughed in the dock after being found guilty of tying up, blindfolding and raping a teenage girl.
A jury at the High Court in Aberdeen unanimously found James Freeman guilty of two charges of rape and one of sexual assault.
The 49-year-old abused the girl over a number of years, first sexually assaulting her at a caravan park in Sutherland when she was aged just 10 or 11 by touching her sexually.
Careless Aberdeen driver broke cyclist’s leg
A careless driver has been fined after crashing into a cyclist in Aberdeen and leaving him with a broken leg.
Cara Thomson failed to spot the man cycling home from work as she pulled out of Pittodrie Street onto Golf Road.
The 27-year-old crashed into the man, knocking him off his bike and leaving him seriously injured and requiring an operation.
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