Our reporters have been sitting in courtrooms across the north and north-east this week and covered a wide variety of cases.
Danger to women locked up
A violent boyfriend has been branded a serious danger to women and jailed for more than four years after he subjected his partner to a catalogue of cruelty and mental abuse.
Dominic Chrich-Holmes ripped clumps of hair from his victim and slashed her with a Stanley knife during months of domestic abuse, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
On another occasion, he broke the woman’s cheekbone and then punched her injured face again when she returned home from hospital.
Civil engineer abused girlfriends
A serial domestic abuser who repeatedly bit his girlfriend on the face has been jailed.
Civil engineer Mark Webb appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted subjecting two of his partners to persistent assaults.
The court heard the 32-year-old attacked one partner in 2017 when she returned home half an hour later than he had told her to.
Sex attacker faces justice
A sex attacker who struck when he was 14 years old has finally been jailed for six years more than a quarter of a century later.
Lee Duncan, 41, was jailed after being found guilty of attacking an eight-year-old girl by a jury at the High Court in Dundee.
He was found guilty of sexual attacks on two children over a period spanning nearly six years between 1996 and 2002.
Boyfriend’s baseball bat attack
A boyfriend has been ordered to stay away from his partner after he struck her across the knee with a baseball bat in a jealous rage.
Francis McPhee, 33, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted assaulting his partner when he became convinced she was cheating on him.
On another occasion, the court heard McPhee got drunk and punched the woman in the right eye.
She later had to lie to friends, claiming she had “fallen and hit her head against a radiator”.
Takeaway assault
A mum-of-one has been fined after she punched a young man and hurled racist abuse at him following a 2am fallout in an Inverurie takeaway.
Suzanne Argo, 45, told the youth to “go back to where he came from” and called him a “black c***” after she felt he queue-jumped at Tikka Tandoori on December 12, 2021.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told that Argo hadn’t been out in a while and was taking advantage of the short window between coronavirus lockdowns to enjoy a meal and drinks with friends.
Nuisance caller told: ‘999 is not a dating site’
A “lonely” man has been warned 999 is “not a dating site” after bombarding the number with requests for blonde policewomen to come round to his home for sex.
Darren Cran dialled 999 a total of 56 times in the space of just four months, making crude sexual comments and often refusing to get off the line.
When officers asked the 29-year-old if he thought his behaviour was appropriate, Cran replied: “Of course. Who else could help me find a blonde?”
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Man snared by paedophile hunters held knife to chest
A man who was snared by paedophile hunters held a knife to his chest during a doorstep confrontation broadcast live on Facebook.
In footage that has been viewed more than 20,000 times, Lossiemouth sex offender George Innes clutches a kitchen knife to his body and can be heard saying “my life is not worth living”.
The sting took place after Innes, 57, sent sexual messages and indecent images to a decoy profile that he believed was a 14-year-old girl called Savannah.
Seagull shooter back in trouble
A man who has been hauled in front of the courts on two separate occasions for shooting seagulls in the street has been warned that his bizarre behaviour could land him in jail.
Bryan Maclennan used a slingshot to fire ball bearings at the birds then collected their unconscious bodies in bags.
On another occasion, he even kept an injured bird in a cage on top of his freezer.
Man assaulted for wearing facemask
A man was headbutted by a stranger in Union Square after being challenged on why he was wearing a facemask.
The 24-year-old had been sitting between Starbucks and Levi’s when he was approached by Owen Smith and another male.
After a few aggressive comments about the man’s facemask, Smith headbutted him.
Outrage at lorry driver’s sentence
There was uproar in court as a trucker who caused the death of a nursery teacher when she was struck by a metal beam protruding from his lorry was spared jail.
John O’Donnell was sentenced to 100 hours of unpaid work and banned from driving for 12 months.
The sentence came exactly three years and a day after the 2019 tragedy that killed 26-year-old Chloe Morrison on A82 on the western shore of Loch Ness.
Army veteran trashed bar
An armed forces veteran struggling with alcohol addiction trashed a bar and crashed his car while fleeing police.
Terry Brannan wrecked the Aberdeen hotel bar by throwing stools around and challenging patrons and staff to a fight.
And just a month before that incident the 37-year-old had been caught after fleeing from police at speed before crashing his car into a wall on the Lang Stracht.
Man threatened to kill police dog
A man said he would kill a police dog, then made the same threat to officers and their families.
Michael Bradshaw, 30, told officers he would target them when they were off duty and would find out where they lived.
“I’m going to kill you, I’ll get you in front of your family,” he told them.
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Every day our reporters are sitting in courtrooms around the area and now you can get their stories sent directly to you, five days a week.
Restaurant boss in the dock
A north-east restaurant boss is due to stand trial accused of threatening a man with a hammer.
Syed Hamid, known as Raj, is alleged to have shouted at another man while brandishing a hammer in a threatening manner at a property in Portlethen earlier this month.
The 48-year-old, who is head chef and owner of the Carron to Mumbai restaurant in Stonehaven, denies the charges against him.
Case deserted
A woman who appeared in court accused of offering to carry out sexual acts on a 12-year-old boy for money has had her case deserted.
Lynne Stephen was facing a trial after she denied making verbal offers to engage in sexual activity with children on Provost Watt Drive in Aberdeen.
But now that charge – of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner – has been temporarily deserted at a pre-trial hearing at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
Dad roamed streets with sledgehammer
A sledgehammer-wielding dad who believed “black people” were selling drugs to his stepdaughter told police he was going to “smash their heads in”.
William Milton – himself a drug addict – armed himself with the weapon and roamed around the Hilton area of Aberdeen asking if there were “any black people about”.
The furious 43-year-old believed people had been selling drugs to his stepdaughter and “wanted to do something about it”, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Dad confronted daughter’s bully
A father has appeared in court after confronting his daughter’s bully and forcing the boy to clean up their vandalised front door.
David Harding, 41, has never previously been in any trouble with the law but reached the “end of his tether” with the 13-year-old, who the court was told had “terrorised” the family.
Harding said his daughter has been the target of a year-long campaign of bullying, during which time her eye socket had been fractured and jaw broken.
Vandal’s mystery grafitti
A vandal who spraypainted mysterious graffiti on the walls of Aberdeen University buildings has appeared in court.
Finn Eamon, known as Eve Crawford, vandalised walls at the university’s MacRobert building and William Guild building.
The 23-year-old’s graffiti is thought to be in Japanese but nobody has yet been able to decipher it.
Drink-driving mechanic
A mechanic has been banned from the road after making a “stupid” spur-of-the-moment decision to drive home after an evening in the pub.
Aaron Simmonds had planned to walk home following an evening of drinking and socialising in the bar in Inverurie.
But, having consumed so much alcohol he was more than three times the legal limit, the 27-year-old chose to drive home instead.
Dog owner accused of letting dogs kill ducks
A dog owner has appeared in court charged with allowing her pets to kill dozens of ducks at a farm near Elgin.
Belinda King is accused of owning two huskies alleged to have killed 80 ducks and two sheep in separate incidents at the same Moray farm.
The 42-year-old appeared in the dock at Elgin Sheriff Court where she made no plea and was ordained to appear at a later date.
Coffin emojis cause alarm
A father-of-one who sent distressing messages containing only emojis of coffins to his partner has been told he needs to “go on apologising” for what he did.
George Petrie sent a message containing 24 sinister emojis to his partner during a brief split earlier this month.
He also left a voicemail stating “I am coming to get you” and sent one further coffin image in a separate message.
Boxing Day bash
A father has been warned he is “perilously close to prison” after a drunken festive family get-together ended with him punching his brother and being hit with vodka bottle.
Liam Smith had been visiting relatives in Bucksburn to celebrate Christmas, but things quickly escalated when he damaged a bathroom door.
It sparked the row that led to the 30-year-old throwing punches at his sibling until another family member intervened – hitting Smith over the head with a vodka bottle.
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