Our reporters have been sitting in courtrooms across the north and north-east this week and covered a wide variety of cases – from the YouTube harasser who targeted female cops to the man who stole £50,000 of designer gear then boasted about it on Facebook.
A man has appeared in court on Monday after he spray-painted bizarre slogans all over Aberdeen Railway Station.
Sean Carbo scrawled “wap”, “acid” and “Pussy Riot” and “Jagermeister made me do it” in silver paint on the floor of the main concourse as well as a gate, a doorway, a bollard and a wall.
The 31-year-old then turned his attention to a British Transport Police vehicle in the car park, covering the windscreen in paint.
Man flooded homeless unit
A man who caused nearly £90,000 in damage and costs after he flooded a homeless unit was later found with a homemade stun gun in his pocket.
Pawel Czerwinski pulled a sprinkler from the roof at his temporary accommodation unit and set off the whole system, causing five flats to become “uninhabitable”.
The incident cost Aberdeen City Council £25,000 in repairs and more than £62,000 in lost rent.
Harasser in court for YouTube abuse
On Tuesday, a man who targeted three female police officers in a campaign of abuse that included phonecalls, emails and even YouTube videos has appeared in court over his “disgraceful” conduct.
Stephen Rowse bombarded the officers with messages after they dealt with a complaint he’d made against Police Scotland in October 2019.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told his actions all stemmed from his belief that the complaint should be dealt with by a male officer.
Boiling water attack on prisoner
A jealous prisoner left a fellow inmate blinded after throwing boiling water in his face because he was sleeping with his girlfriend.
John Hendry, 26, and Maksim Kniazkin, 22, pounced on their victim as he left his cell at HMP Grampian for his evening meal.
Hendry threw a kettle of boiling water into the man’s face, leaving him unable to see anything other than light and the outline of objects for months.
Kniazkin, Hendry’s cellmate, also got involved by punching the man in the attack.
Drug dealer sold cocaine from electric bike
A dealer who was caught on an electric bike with over 150 wraps of Class A drugs for sale has been handed a two-year prison sentence.
Michael Beaton, 25, admitted two charges of supplying cocaine and heroin after he was caught red-handed selling drugs by officers in an unmarked police car on Willowpark Crescent, Aberdeen.
He was found with a supply of heroin valued at £1,600 and wraps of cocaine worth £1,250.
A subsequent raid on Beaton’s property saw police find nearly £5,000 in cash.
‘Controlling’ man couldn’t accept relationship was over
A “controlling” man who couldn’t accept his relationship was over bombarded his ex with more than 200 messages and even turned up at her home wearing nothing but boxer shorts and a bow tie.
Gareth Roberts met the Banff woman online but soon turned from charming to controlling and sent abusive messages to her via fake Facebook profiles.
The 41-year-old spent months trying to win her back and used the bogus social media accounts to keep tabs on her.
Drink driver’s car ended up wedged in hedge
A slurring drink driver told the emergency service she was puzzled why they’d been called – even though her car was hanging precariously from a hedge.
Jacqueline Clark was almost three times over the drink-driving limit when she crashed on the B9022 between Huntly and Portsoy on July 4.
Banff Sheriff Court heard how the 58-year-old was found within her car by a fellow motorist near the junction for Portsoy at around 9.50pm.
Woman was 14-times drug-driving limit
A driver who overtook police before rounding a bend on the wrong side of the road was under the influence of cocaine and depressed after losing family members to Covid.
Catriona Maclean, 39, of Jenkins Park, Fort Augustus, made the risky manoeuvre in her VW Golf near Invermoriston on November 28 2020, but was spotted and pulled over by police, Inverness Sheriff Court heard.
Fiscal depute Karen Poke explained that, when stopped, Maclean’s behaviour was “erratic” and she appeared “fidgety and distressed”.
She told the court: “She accepted that her actions were wrong and apologised to the officers”.
Skate park vandal in court
A teenager who set fire to part of a popular skate park before turning himself in and then helping to rebuild it has been ordered to pay £400 compensation.
Mateusz Dymarski, 19, set fire to a picnic bench which in turn caused the Inverness Skate Park gazebo to go up in flames.
Dymarski, of Laurel Avenue, Inverness, appeared for sentencing having previously pled guilty to a charge of culpably and recklessly setting fire in the early hours of October 5 2019.
Man’s sex act outside Spar
A man has admitted exposing himself in front of a shop worker after an all-night bender.
Ben Keavey, 44, was turned away from Spar on Greenfern Road in Aberdeen because it was shut but returned soon after performed a sex act through the window.
One female worker at the Mastrick store witnessed his behaviour and alerted another female colleague.
The act was caught on CCTV and the 44-year old was soon traced and arrested by police.
Pensioner spared driving ban after horrific accident
An Aberdeen woman who knocked down a pensioner while driving in a bus lane has been spared a driving ban and had the charges against her reduced.
Linda Davidson’s car struck Joan Kane, 69, who had been walking “slowly and diagonally” across the Lang Stracht.
Ms Kane was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary after the incident which happened at around 4.10pm on December 23 2019.
Man, 31, admits sex with 13-year-old boy
A man has admitted having sex with a 13-year-old boy in Aberdeen.
Ian Tait had intercourse with the child on two occasions in September at October 2019 at locations in Aberdeen and in Aberdeenshire.
The 31-year-old appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court over the matter and pled guilty to two charges, including the two incidents of intercourse with the boy.
Man denies building hoax bomb
A man has denied behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by building a hoax bomb and leaving it in his hall outside his Aberdeen flat.
Police evacuated buildings and closed off streets around the Sinclair Road area of Torry on November 19 last year following the discovery of a “suspicious item” inside a property at 5.25pm.
An explosive ordnance disposal team (EOD) attended the incident, along with fire crews and police officers before it was eventually deemed safe for residents to return home just before 11pm.
‘One-man crime wave’ behind bars
A “one-man crime wave” has been jailed for 30 months after admitting 20 shoplifting offences and five other charges.
Steven William Potter, 38, appeared by video link at Inverness Sheriff Court to be sentenced on 17 different cases which covered a two-year period.
They included the dishonesty offences plus two of drugs possession, one of possessing a weapon and two of bail breaches.
One high-value theft involved stealing £1,000 of clothing from Inverness outdoor store Tiso.
Former Dons defender on speeding charge
Former Aberdeen defender Shay Logan is facing a motorway speeding charge.
Logan, 33, is alleged to have been caught by cops with a hand-held speed camera on the M9 near Stirling last year.
Logan, who made 276 appearances for the Dons across seven-and-a-half seasons, signed a three-year deal with Cove Rovers last month.
£50,000 Overhype raider jailed
A thief who was snared when he boasted about stealing tens of thousands of pounds worth of stock from an Aberdeen designer store has been jailed.
Alexander Evans, 28, admitted looting Overhype store in the city centre during the Covid-19 pandemic, making off with £50,000 in high-end clothing and footwear – including a signed glove by world championship boxer Floyd Mayweather.
Following the raid, which took place between the night of November 30 and the morning of December 1 last year, the Granite City store was left stripped of nearly all its merchandise.
