Our reporters have been sitting in courtrooms across the north and north-east this week and covered a wide variety of cases – from the woman who stole from some of the most vulnerable people in our society, to the despicable domestic abuser who finally faced justice.
A yob who was celebrating his release from prison was back in the dock on Monday after drunkenly throwing rocks at passing cars.
Kasim Javed had been inside HMP Grampian for most of the year, but after getting released on Friday he overdid his celebrations, first throwing rocks at vehicles and then trying to bite a police officer.
One terrified driver was forced to duck as Javed picked up a large stone at the roadside and launched it at the vehicle, causing £600 worth of damage.
And now the 33-year-old has been warned he could be facing a speedy return to a jail cell.
Smashing spree in cop car park
Also on Monday, another man’s stupidity landed him in court after he went on a vandalism rampage in the car park of police headquarters.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard how Andrew Wills damaged a string of police vehicles at the police’s city centre HQ on April 6.
The 28-year-old targeted five cop cars, scratching the bodywork, smashing windows, mirrors and headlamps of one vehicle, and damaged the wing mirror, bodywork and windows of another.
Teen locked up for nasty glass attack
Calling at Inverness Sheriff Court on Monday was the case of a man who smashed a glass over a soldier’s head after a row over a drink turned nasty.
Recardo Colbridge, also known as Ricardo Fraiser, struck his victim at least three times to the head with the glass inside Revolution Bar in Inverness.
Sentence had been deferred on Colbridge and his solicitor urged Sheriff Sara Matheson to consider a non-custodial sentence.
However, she said the offence was so serious the only option was time behind bars.
Indecent images hidden behind password-protection app
An intelligence-led police raid on an Aberdeen man’s home resulted in the discovery of more than 600 indecent images of children and more than nine hours of horrific video.
Daniel McGladrigan was found to have around 643 indecent pictures and hours of video footage of children on “encrypted cloud storage” when police officers attended his property in October 2020.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard how the 20-year-old “spontaneously” volunteered to cops that a mobile phone on his dining room table contained the sick images – adding that they were contained in a “lockbox application” on the phone.
Callous thief raided homeless shelter
One of the most shameful crimes of the week involved a woman who acted as a lookout so her friend could raid a homeless shelter in Aberdeen.
Denise Pope helped co-accused Mandy Nicol ransack rooms at a temporary accommodation facility set up by Aberdeen City Council to house homeless people – stealing clothing, footwear and money from victims.
The stolen items were found when the 57-year-old was evicted from her room following the thefts.
Pope was also using the Victoria House unit on Aberdeen’s West North Street at the time.
No jail for baby sex video man
A “socially isolated” man caught with indecent videos of children, including a baby, has avoided a prison sentence.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told that Euan Davidson, 40, has learning difficulties and is at “low risk of re-offending”.
Previously, the court heard that during October 2019 Police Scotland received intelligence that on October 3 2018, a Facebook user had uploaded a Category A indecent image of a child.
Several weeks later, on October 29, police obtained a search warrant for Davidson’s Keith home.
Labourer had sex with girls aged 13 and 15
A rape trial came to a conclusion at the High Court in Aberdeen on Tuesday.
Blair Thomson, 23, was cleared of raping a 15-year-old girl at his Aberdeen flat – but the jury found him guilty of having sex with her.
He was also found guilty of having sex with a 13-year-old girl and also of sending and sharing indecent images with five girls, all under the age of 16.
The jury at the High Court in Aberdeen returned a not proven verdict to the rape claim, which was alleged to have taken place at his former home in Urquhart Road in August 2017.
Jurors instead declared him guilty of an alternative charge of having sex with an older child.
Dog avoids death sentence
An Alsatian dog who was “dangerously out of control” and bit three people won’t be put down after a court on Wednesday was told he had undergone a “remarkable” transformation.
Daniel Murray’s pet Zack attacked two women and a man on three consecutive days and also lunged at a police officer and a child in the city centre of Aberdeen.
In cases such as these, courts will often issue a destruction order and the dog is humanely destroyed, however, on this occasion, the sheriff decided Zack was no longer a threat to the public after being rehomed.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told Murray, 43, had allowed the dog to go wild during a “grief window” following the death of his mother.
Men accused of assaulting sheriff outside court
Two men appeared in court this week after a well-known north-east sheriff was allegedly attacked as he walked into Banff Sheriff Court.
Philip Mitchell, 59, and William Curtis, 68, appeared in private at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.
They were arrested after Sheriff Robert McDonald was allegedly attacked in the car park near Low Street.
A source at Banff Sheriff Court said the “horrible” incident had shocked staff there.
Meat snatcher a ‘menace to shopkeepers’
A drug addict who carried out a campaign of shoplifting at supermarkets across Aberdeen has been described as a “menace to shopkeepers”.
John Prosser targeted mainly meat and Blu-ray discs totalling more than £1,000 from supermarkets in Dyce, Bridge of Don and Bucksburn.
During July 2019 alone he made off with £709 worth of electronics – including a DVD player, Blu-rays, DVDs and computer accessories – on almost weekly visits to Asda in Riverview Road and Tesco in Laurel Drive.
Driver guilty of crash that paralysed teenager
A jury spent three days this week hearing evidence in the case of a driver who accused of causing a crash that left a 19-year-old scooter rider paralysed from the chest down.
His victim, Oskar Sumera, was on a life support machine following the crash on October 20 2018 and has been confined to a wheelchair ever since.
Domestic abuser choked girlfriends unconscious
A despicable domestic abuser faced justice on Friday when Robert Wilson admitted choking two different girlfriends unconscious.
Fraserburgh man Robert Wilson – who originally faced an attempted murder charge – flew into violent rages over matters as trivial as crumbs on the sofa and food left uncovered on a worktop, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
On separate occasions, and with separate partners, he grabbed them by the throat and squeezed until they lost consciousness.
