Court / Young man narrowly escapes jail term

A YOUNG man from Lerwick who caused two disturbances in the town’s Hoofields area in August and in January this year escaped a prison sentence by the narrowest of margins when appearing at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

Kristian Georgiev, with at address at Hoofields, was instead put under supervision for 18 months and ordered to carry out 270 hours of unpaid work within the next six months, all part of a community payback order.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie told the court that police were tasked with an extremely challenging job after being called to the 24 year old’s home address on 18 August.

Faced with a lot of intoxicated people in the flat, including several women screaming hysterically that there had been a stabbing, police had to tread carefully believing that someone in the crowd could well be in possession of a knife.

Mackenzie said police officers had no choice but to warn Georgiev, who was obstructive and did not cooperate, that the taser gun was live. They then had to use it twice before being able to arrest the young man.

The second disturbance occurred on 31 January when an argument with a former partner went out of hand and Georgiev started shouting and swearing, and finally head butted a window which smashed.

Defence solicitor Timmy Allan said his client was sorry and ashamed for his actions, adding that Georgiev felt he could not have foreseen the situation getting out of hand.

The court was told that the relationship with the former partner was now over and that Georgiev was looking for alternative accommodation.

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank told Georgiev that he had considered sending him to jail but since he had no previous convictions it was difficult to argue that there wasn’t an alternative to a custodial sentence.

Georgiev will be back at court on 26 May for a three-month review of the community payback order. “Should you fail to do this work, jail could be imposed”, the sheriff told him.