Here are five stories you may have missed from Inverness Sheriff Court this week.
1) Teenager who set fire to straw bale “recognises the error of his ways”
A Kirkhill teenager who set fire to a bale of straw in a barn which was later badly damaged by fire was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid community work yesterday.
William Williamson, 18, of Albany Place, appeared for sentence at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday and admitted wilfully setting fire to the straw bale at Bruaich Farm, Kiltarlity, on the evening of August 2, 2015, when he was only 16.
Sentence had been deferred for a background report.
Solicitor advocate Shahid Latif asked Sheriff Margaret Neilson not to send his client to detention for the offence.
He said: “This young man needs assistance and he is prepared to address his issues with drugs and alcohol.
“He recognises the error of his ways.”
Mr Latif asked the Sheriff to further defer sentence for social work involvement. But this was rejected by the Sheriff who said: “The consequences here could have been catastrophic.”
However she ordered Williamson to remain under social work supervision for one year and have drug treatment.
Fiscal depute Roderick Urquhart told the court at an earlier hearing: “This crime only came to light during the investigation into a significant fire at the farm, which the available evidence suggests was accidental.
“There were two Dutch barns used for holding dead stock and at the time of this incident one of the barns contained 275 bales of straw.
“An Inverness solicitor was driving past the farm with his teenage son when they saw smoke and two young men apparently trying to hide from the car.
“His son recognised one of them as Williamson. They raised the alarm.”
2) Woman slashed her partner with a knife
A 23-year-old Dingwall woman who slashed her partner with a knife was ordered to carry out the maximum 300 hours of unpaid community work yesterday.
Despite 25-year-old victim James Marshall blaming unknown attackers and not his girlfriend, Tanya Stewart, she was unanimously found guilty by a jury in March.
Sheriff Margaret Neilson told her: “This is a very serious matter but I am prepared to impose the alternative to imprisonment.”
Stewart, of Millbank Road, had denied assaulting Mr Marshall to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement.
Defence solicitor advocate Shahid Latif told the Sheriff: “I acknowledge as does Ms Stewart that any assault on a person involving a knife places that person perilously close to a period of imprisonment.
“But there were episodes of violence perpetrated on her by her partner. She is a young mother with two children who are at a critical stage of their development.
“I ask the court not to send her to prison but to send her back to her family.”
The court heard the couple had fought on May 27, last year and Mr Marshall had punched his partner. They went into the house where a neighbour heard Stewart shout: “I am going to stab you” and Mr Marshall reply: “Just do it.”
He emerged from the house and met friends in the street. He was bare-chested and covered in blood, holding his T-shirt to his injured nose.
Mr Marshall gave different versions of how he got the cut on his nose which needed four stitches, but none implicated his partner.
3) Police used CS spray against man who brandished piece of wood
A Tain man who brandished a piece of wood at police was subdued by officers using a CS spray.
At an earlier hearing at Inverness Sheriff Court, George Wright, 22, of Seaforth Road, admitted behaving in a threatening manner on Stephen’s Brae in October last year.
He was sentenced to carry out 150 hours of unpaid community work.
But Sheriff Margaret Neilson was told that he had failed to complete the total in time.
Wright yesterday admitted a breach of the community payback order and explained his father had died and this had occupied his mind.
He was placed under social work supervision for two years and again ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work.
4) Social work involvement ordered after woman convicted of having butter knife in public place
A 20-year-old Inverness woman convicted of unlawfully having a butter knife in a public place had sentence further deferred yesterday.
Kaiya Slaney, of Glendoe Terrace, had been convicted after a jury trial at Inverness Sheriff Court in March when a background report was called for.
But Sheriff Margaret Neilson was ill and that delayed Slaney’s sentencing until yesterday when the Sheriff instructed social work involvement with the young mother.
It will last for the next four months and the Sheriff called for a further report on her progress on October 19.
Slaney had denied the charge but pleaded guilty to resisting arrest and struggling violently with two police sergeants on April 23 last year in Union Street.
The court heard that officers had been dealing with another incident when they saw 20-year-old Slaney and verified that there was a warrant for her arrest.
When they tried to arrest her, she reacted violently. The officers told the court that a butter knife fell from her clothing.
Slaney and her 18-year-old boyfriend, Reese Erwin, had explained why she had the knife but it was deemed not a lawful excuse.
They told the court that they had an iPod dock which had run out of batteries, and they had gone into the centre to get new batteries.
Slaney said: “There was a screw on the docking station and I took the knife to unscrew it. I should have thought about what I was doing but I was doing it for the right reasons.”
5) Sheriff warns man not to take the law into his own hands after threatening schoolgirl over bullying allegation
A Nairn man who went into a school and confronted a girl over a bullying allegation was warned by a sheriff not to take the law into his own hands.
Sheriff Margaret Neilson fined 45-year-old Brian Coburn, of Blairmore, £320 after he admitted grabbing a girl by the arm and threatening her.
Coburn admitted that, on October 7 last year, he behaved in a threatening or abusive manner.
Sentence had been deferred for a background report.
Defence solicitor Rory Gowans said that his client “is not proud of his behaviour”, adding: “He saw one of the four girls involved and gave her a piece of his mind.”
Fiscal depute Anna Robertson had earlier told the court that Coburn had “marched” into a school and saw the girl.
Ms Robertson said Coburn threatened the girl, who ran off in tears to tell her teacher as Coburn went to tell the head teacher what he had done.
Mr Gowans added: “He wishes he could turn the clock back and count to 10. But he saw red that day.”
