News / Drink driving, drugs and malicious damage
Court round up
A MAN from Brae who ploughed through a fence into a garden after driving home from a night out has been banned from the road for one year.
At Lerwick Sheriff Court on Thursday (name and address removed under the Right to be Forgotten rules), admitted driving a car while unfit through drink or drugs on the main road through Brae on 7 March 2015.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said the police were alerted the day after the incident.
Tyre tracks on the grass and broken car parts were found, with police later confirming that (name removed) was the culprit.
Defence agent William McKay said the 31 year old only had two or three beers on the night of the accident and thought he was fit to drive home.
The electrical manager made amends with his neighbours by fixing the fence himself.
Sheriff Philip Mann decided to ban (name removed) from the road for one year, which could be reduced by three months if he completes a drink-driver rehab course. He was also fined £540.
A TWENTY year old apprentice mechanic from Tingwall lost his licence for one year after entering a 30mph zone at more than 70mph.
Alan Williamson, of 16 Vallafield, Gott and his 20 year old friend Scott Polson, of 19 Vallafield, both pled guilty to careless driving at Veensgarth on 7 September.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said police noticed two cars heading north out of Lerwick at speed and followed them.
They sped up the A970 before turning off to Veensgarth, with Polson then overtaking another vehicle which had also turned at the junction in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid the two cars.
It was “boy racer type behaviour,” Mackenzie said.
Defence agent Tommy Allan said Williamson stayed behind Polson, but he admits he was too close to him.
Polson, who works as a joiner, now “fully appreciates” that he put others in jeopardy by driving at speed, added defence agent Gregor Kelly.
Sheriff Philip Mann gave Polson nine penalty points and fined him £600 after he pled guilty to overtaking when inappropriate to do so and entering a 30mph zone at a speed exceeding 70mph.
He slapped Williamson with a £450 fine and endorsed his licence with nine points after he admitted driving excessively close to another vehicle. As a result he has been banned from the road for six months.
The sheriff gave Williamson another six points and a £200 fine for driving a car with no insurance at the Toll Clock Car Park in Lerwick on 1 February.
A man from Swansea who broke into a minibus to warm himself up while he waited for a taxi with his friend has been fined £450.
Robert Thomas, of 1 Monterey Street, Mansleton, and Jeffrey O’Connell, of 130 Saltersgill Avenue, Middlesborough, got into the unlocked vehicle at the Moorfield Hotel in Brae on 1 November.
The court heard that the pair had gone into the hotel to book a taxi, but weren’t allowed to wait inside so they were left in the cold wearing t-shirts.
Thomas, aged 33, decided to open a minibus before 34 year old O’Connell broke off the vehicle’s ignition cowling in an attempt to hotwire the engine and start up its heating system.
Defence agent Gregor Kelly said Thomas lost his job in Shetland as a result of the incident.
After both men admitted maliciously damaging the vehicle, Sheriff Mann fined Thomas £450 and deferred sentence on O’Connell until 11 May to allow him to attend court in person.
A quarry administrator who drove at excessive speeds while crossing a bridge in Trondra has been given eight penalty points and a £450 fine.
Jonathan Gifford, of Souther House, Hamnavoe, was going home from work on 8 October when he drove at 81mph in a 60mph zone and failed to reduce his speed while entering a 30mph zone.
Defence agent Gregor Kelly told Lerwick Sheriff Court on Thursday that the 36 year old was unaware at the time about the speed restrictions surrounding the bridge.
A MAN from Sandness who took to the wheel after working on the door at a local Up Helly Aa hop night has lost his licence for one year.
Ian Macleod, of Ranish, admitted driving an unlicensed car while just four microgrammes over the 35mg limit for alcohol on the A970 in Gulberwick on 13 March.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said the 28 year old was stopped by police at around 1.15am due to the manner of his driving.
He failed a roadside screening test and was taken to the Lerwick police station.
Sheriff Philip Mann disqualified him from driving for one year, which may be reduced by three months if he completes a drink-driver rehab course.
Macleod was also fined a total of £600.
A mechanic from Cunningsburgh who was found with a small quantity of heroin has been fined £600.
Ralph Halcrow, aged 41, of Brind, was discovered with 0.9g of the Class A drug at Lerwick’s South Lochside on 14 December.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie told Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday that the value of the drugs amounted to £90
A telecom engineer from Derry who engaged in “drunken thuggery” in a Lerwick pub has been fined £400 and told to pay compensation.
Gary McClintock, of 47 Ferryleel Park, admitted behaving in a disorderly and threatening manner and committing a breach of the peace at Lerwick’s Da Wheel on 6 March.
He also pled guilty to assaulting a woman by pushing her at the Commercial Road bar on the same date.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said the 28 year old got into an argument with a man and a woman while outside in the smoking area.
After threatening to knock out the man in “two seconds flat”, they went back inside before McClintock inadvertently pushed over another woman in attempt to get at the male pub-goer.
As well as the fine, Sheriff Philip Mann ordered him to pay £150 compensation to the woman he pushed.
A man who managed to smoke heroin in a cabin on the NorthLink ferry as it sailed between Aberdeen and Lerwick by covering the smoke detector with a sock has been fined £200.
Scott Hanley, of 20 Merlin Crescent, Buckhaven, admitted tampering with the detector in his cabin on 10 November.
The 33 year old also pled guilty to possessing heroin at Lerwick police station on the same day.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said the quantity of heroin possessed by Hanley in the station was a “trace” amount left in tin foil.
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