News / Triple trouble
Three men were fined for fighting at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday morning after avoiding trials by changing their initial not guilty pleas.
Having denied assault, offshore oil worker Mark McCourt, of 7 Lincoln, Court, Coatbridge, admitted a lesser charge of breaching the peace after a drunken row over a spilled drink at Lerwick’s Posers nightclub descended into a physical altercation in nearby Harrison Square on 30 September last year.
The court heard that the 31 year old had voluntarily given up his job at the Shetland gas plant to return offshore following the incident, for which he was fined £300.
Twenty year old Michael Goodlad, of 40 Hoofields, Lerwick, earned some praise from procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie for showing the maturity to admit a blow that floored him at a country dance in Cullivoe, Yell, on 8 July last year was accidental.
His admission allowed his fellow accused to be discharged, leaving Goodlad to be fined £200. The court heard he had turned his life around after getting a well paid job in north Shetland.
Meanwhile unemployed 23 year old Ryan Paterson, of Upper Glebe, Bressay, accepted his role in a fight on Lerwick’s Sandveien housing estate last year.
Defence agent Tommy Allan said Paterson had been followed out of a house and challenged to a fight.
Both had been asked to pay a £100 fixed penalty, but Paterson denied the charge until his court appearance on Wednesday.
Sheriff Philip Mann fined him £120 after accepting there had been a considerable degree of provocation.
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