Court / Saucepan attack man imprisoned

A MAN has been sentenced to prison for more than three months after hitting another man on the head with a saucepan in Lerwick.

Andrew Valentine was out on licence from another prison sentence when he committed the offence last month. The complainer suffered only minor injuries.

Lerwick Sheriff Court heard on Wednesday that Valentine, 27, from Stirling, had gone to an address in Ladies Drive looking for money when the assault took place on 27 May.

Valentine, who pleaded guilty, appeared from custody on Wednesday having been arrested and held in jail since the offence.

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank said that there had been an element of provocation involved but he had to balance this against Valentine’s extensive criminal record, including convictions for drugs and violence, and the short time that had expired between Valentine being released early on licence in April and his latest offence.

The sheriff queried Valentine’s purpose in visiting the house, demanding money and then assaulting the complainer, given the frequent link between drug debts and violence.

But Tommy Allan, defending, said that Valentine had gone there to help a female friend get money that was owed to her, and that his client had been drawn into someone else’s dispute over money.

Valentine was in Shetland to find work at a fish factory and because he had visited in the past and had made friends, he added.

Valentine was serving a drug-related prison sentence of 20 months, starting on 9 February 2018, when he was released early, with 378 days of his sentence still unserved.

Taking time to weight the options, and Valentine’s 22 days on remand, the sheriff sentenced him to complete three months of his unexpired prison term plus a consecutive 14 days in prison.