News / Assault victim admits drugs charge
THE VICTIM of a serious assault in Shetland last May finally appeared in court on Wednesday to face drugs charges from last year.
Jamie Thomson, aged 35, of 66 Sandveien, Lerwick, was arrested after police searched his house on 25 September last year and found electronic scales, tick lists and just over 100 grammes of amphetamine worth over £1,000.
He initially appeared in court in January, but four months later he was seriously assaulted by two men in his home, for which the pair were sentenced to nine years in prison in August.
This week Thomson was well enough to appear in court, but procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said he was still needing hospital appointments to deal with the consequences of the assault.
Mr Mackenzie said: “He’s not the same man and his likelihood or ability to offend in the future has been severely curtailed because of that.”
He added that the prosecution accepted that Thomson only intended to supply a circle of close associates with the drugs, and accepted a not guilty plea for possession of methadone, two types of cannabis and diazepam.
Deferring sentence for four weeks, Sheriff Graeme Napier said he had to take his circumstances into consideration.
The sheriff said: “I am not trying to diminish the seriousness of this offending but I have to sentence who appears before me and not the person who committed the offence, and you are not the same person you were on 25 September, which is quite clear from your presentation in court.”
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