Court / Farmer who pushed man back with his pick-up has sentence deferred
A FARMER from Quendale who pushed another man backwards with his pick-up during a dispute has had his sentence deferred to be of good behaviour.
Kevin Obern, 43, admitted culpably and recklessly driving the vehicle against the man at JK Mainland farm in Quendale on 14 May last year.
The complainer was pushed back around “five to 10 feet” during the stand-off, Lerwick Sheriff Court heard today (Thursday).
There was “bad blood” between the two men, the court was told, with both sides locked in a legal dispute about the ownership of some farm equipment.
But when the complainer and his father arrived to remove a “neep seeder” at night Obern reacted angrily.
The background to the offence was that Obern, the complainer and his father were all strongly involved in the company, procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said.
The man and his father had arrived at the shed to take the neep seeder, and they were “entitled to be there”.
The court heard that Obern saw the pair and drove his pick-up into one of the sheds to remonstrate with them, at which point the complainer stepped in front of the vehicle.
“He’s driving at low speed but there’s contact,” the fiscal said.
“He moves the complainer back a short distance, between five and 10 feet or so.”
Defence agent Gregor Kelly said there had been a “great deal of conflict” between the parties.
There had been a meeting a day previous to the incident, Kelly said, and Obern believed the ownership of a number of farm vehicles was still to be decided.
Obern also had said that the complainer stepped in front of his pick-up and “theatrically throws himself” at it, Kelly added.
Kelly said the whole incident was “somewhat farcical”, but admitted his client “doesn’t jam on the brakes at that stage”.
He accepted that though this was a minor incident, it could have been different if the complainer had stumbled or fallen backwards.
And Kelly said all of the parties involved “should all perhaps grow up a bit and learn to live with each other”.
“But at this time there were some quite fresh wounds, that will take some time to heal,” he added.
He asked Sheriff Ian Cruickshank to allow Obern to show he could be of good behaviour.
The sheriff agreed, deferring sentencing for a “slightly longer period” of nine months.
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