Court / Court round-up 18 December
A TWENTY five year old who left a man with “substantial swelling” to his face after an attack has had his sentence deferred for reports.
Jay Lee McGill, from Lerwick’s Tarland, assaulted the man along with two others in an address on Burgh Road on 29 May this year.
McGill admitted the assault, which saw him pin the man to a bed and repeatedly kick his body and punch his head.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said it was a “slightly unusual situation”, with a separate assault taking place shortly before this incident.
This did not involve McGill, but one of the men in question had been in possession of a knife that they had left behind.
“A short while later all three returned to retrieve the knife,” Mackenzie told the court.
“During that the accused and one of the males assaulted the complainer, pushing him around, pinning him on to a bed.”
The man tried to cover his face but the three men were punching him, and kicking him on the body.
“He managed to get away and ran on to the street where members of the public stopped to help him,” the fiscal said.
The complainer sustained “substantial swelling” the left side of his face, as well as a small cut on his left lower cheek, a cut on his forearm and a bump on the back of his head.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank deferred the sentencing for the preparation of background reports.
He will return for sentencing on 12 February 2025.
SMASHING the glass pane of a door frame proved a costly mistake for one Lerwick woman at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday.
Kristina Cumming, from Da Vadill, also damaged an ornamental bell as she tried to break into a house at 5.45am in Sandveien on 7 July this year.
Cumming, 56, believed it was the home of someone she knew that she thought was “going to harm themselves”.
But instead she awoke a confused householder to the sound of loud banging, “a loud smash of glass” and the ringing of the decorative bell.
Cumming “peered through a hole she had made in the glass” and demanded to know where the person she was looking for was.
The householder told her she was going to call the police, which caused Cumming to leave.
When police arrived, they found the damaged bell and smashed glass, with the court hearing it had cost £364.61 to replace the pane.
Cumming admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner during the incident.
Defence agent Tommy Allan said Cumming had gone to the address mistakenly, adding: “Clearly some drink had been taken”.
While he said alcohol had “been an issue” in Cumming’s past, he said she was now improving.
Allan added she wanted to write a letter of apology to the homeowner.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank fined Cumming £160, and ordered her to pay back the £364.61 cost of the broken glass to Shetland Islands Council, the landlord of the home.
A DRIVER caught with no insurance, no MOT and driving an unlicensed vehicle has been banned from the road on totting up.
Mitchell Cross, from Lerwick’s Ladies Drive, was stopped by police during a routine check on North Road on 21 June.
The 32 year old, who represented himself in court, said his partner had just had their second child at the time and “baby brain well and truly kicked in”.
He said he could offer “no real excuse” but added he had just got a new van before the incident but had not changed over the insurance cover.
Cross said he was “running two businesses at the same time”.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank noted, however, that Cross already had six penalty points on his licence at the time of the offence.
He said that he had to automatically endorse his licence with six more points for driving without insurance, which would disqualify him from driving.
The sheriff fined Cross £475 and endorsed his licence with six points. He will be banned from driving for six months.
Cross was admonished on the charges of driving without an MOT and in an unlicensed vehicle.
A MAN with an “unenviable history of previous convictions” has been ordered to carry out unpaid work.
Thirty six year old Ross Sutherland, from Kveldsro Gardens, Lerwick, was caught with almost six grams of cocaine on 25 November 2023.
Police stopped Sutherland at Lerwick’s Sea Road and discovered the drugs, which would have had a street value between £480 and £600.
Sutherland pleaded guilty to an amended charge of possession of a class A drug, and defence agent Gregor Kelly said he was “in the throes of a cocaine addiction” at the time.
He admitted it was a “fairly sizably quantity for his own use”, but that he had “now curtailed” that.
Kelly said Sutherland acknowledged he was “no longer a young man”.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank said he accepted the drugs were for Sutherland’s own use.
He said Sutherland was only in a position to pay a “relatively modest” fine, and instead ordered him to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work.
Sutherland will have to carry out the work in the next three months.
A THIRTY eight year old man stopped with two wraps of heroin has been fined at Lerwick Sheriff Court.
Scott Henry, from Hoofields in Lerwick, was caught by police carrying two wraps of the class A drug diamorphine on 11 November this year on the town’s North Road.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said the two wraps were worth around £40 overall.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank fined Henry £420.
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