Good evening – it was a varied day in courtrooms across our areas.
No road ban over 100mph on AWPR
A motorist who hit speeds of 100mph on the Aberdeen bypass has kept his licence but could still lose his job as a lorry driver.
Calum Robertson, 24, an HGV driver for a national bakery chain, was caught driving his car at 100mph on the A90 Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, well in excess of the 70mph speed limit.
He admitted a charge of careless driving, reduced from an earlier one of driving dangerously, near the A93 Peterculter bypass junction on March 29 this year.
Robertson already has three points on his licence for speeding.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard he would most likely lose his job if he got more than six penalty points added to his licence.
Defence agent Ian Woodward-Nutt said Robertson had learned a “salutary lesson”.
He also said: “It remains to be seen whether the traffic commissioner will order further proceedings given his employment as a HGV driver.
Woman fled home covered in blood after partner assaulted her
A dad-of-three assaulted his partner so badly she was found fleeing him on an Aberdeen street with her face and clothing covered in blood.
Norman Gardiner, 53, and his partner of 16 years had friends round to their Northfield home for drinks, but he became physically abusive at around 1am.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard how Gardiner had been drinking for “several hours” when he became argumentative and aggressive.
The court heard he twice pushed his partner, causing her to “scream in pain” and hit both a cooker and later a toilet before he picked up a knife and screamed at her to get out of the house.
However, it was said there was no brandishing or threats made with the knife.
Gardiner did hand over the knife , but then punched his partner to the face and body.
His defence agent Chris Maitland said his drinking had gotten “out of control at the time” and that he “deeply regrets his actions”.
Son of diver who died at shipwreck awarded compensation
The young son of a diver who perished at a shipwreck has been awarded £290,000 compensation after a judge ruled a ship captain didn’t do enough to minimise safety risks.
Lord Sandison awarded the sum to nine-year-old Vincent Warner in a judgment delivered on Friday at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.
His mother Debbie raised an action on Vincent’s behalf at Scotland’s highest civil court regarding how his dad Lex lost his life at Cape Wrath off the north coast of Scotland in August 2012.
Mr Warner, 50, from Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham, and a group of friends had been making a “deep water” technical dive off a wreck.
He was onboard the MV Jean Elaine vessel in the hours before his death.
During the hearing, lawyers for the family claimed that the ship’s captain Andy Cuthbertson didn’t do enough to minimise the risks which came from divers walking on board boats whilst wearing fins.
Domestic abuser who attacked woman with Christmas tree avoids jail
A man who attacked his then partner with a Christmas tree during a campaign of violence that lasted more than five years has been spared jail.
Mark Allsopp, 52, was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow after being convicted at a trial in Aberdeen of assaulting the woman to her injury between January 2013 and April 2018 at addresses in Nairn in the Highlands.
Prosecutors stated this included him “striking her on the body with an artificial Christmas tree”.
Allsopp, of Nairn, had denied the accusations.
Chef drove while over six times the limit
A chef has been banned from the road for 29 months after getting behind the wheel while just over six times the limit.
Krzysztof Urbaniec, 53, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court and admitted driving with 135mcg of alcohol in his breath when limit is 22mcg from his Moray home to Wester Ross on August 5 this year.
He also pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified and without insurance.
Fiscal depute Ruraidh Allison told the court police received a call expressing concern about the manner of Urbaniec’s driving and stopped him on the A87 between Shiel Bridge and Dornie.
Defence solicitor advocate Mike Chapman said his client was on his way to work in Portree where he worked seven days on and three days off.
“He would return to Forres flat on his days off but he missed his bus when he was due to go back to Skye. He took his son’s van and he should not.”
Mr Chapman added that his client had since lost his job and now had a new one in Forres.
Urbaniec, of Fulton Road, Forres, was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.
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