Court / Assaulting police officer results in fine for Sandwick man

A THIRTY four year old man has been fined £460 after admitting behaving aggressively towards a woman before assaulting and trying to bite a police officer.

Steven Nicholson, of Veester Hill, Sandwick, pleaded guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting and swearing at his then partner at an address in Lerwick’s Pitt Lane on 2 December last year.

He also admitted struggling with a police constable, lashing out with his arms and kicking out with his legs, attempting to break free and refusing to be handcuffed before punching and trying to bite the officer.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie told Lerwick Sheriff Court on Thursday that both Nicholson and his then partner had been drinking heavily on the day in question.

That evening the woman called 999 and claimed Nicholson had assaulted her. A disturbance was heard in the background during the phone call.

A struggle ensued after police attended the address to arrest him.

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Nicholson spent 45 days in prison last winter after breaching bail conditions imposed in relation to the case.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said his client reckoned around four litres of vodka had been consumed prior to the incident.

He considers the relationship with the woman to be permanently over and has been free of alcohol this year, Allan added, and currently spends most of his time caring for his unwell mother.

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank imposed three fines totalling £460 along with a 12-month non-harassment order.

A WOMAN who struggled violently with police officers at a Lerwick address last autumn has been handed a nine-week restriction of liberty order.

Sarah Irvine, of the town’s Hill Grind, had previously had sentence deferred in relation to an incident on 24 September 2020.

She admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting, swearing and struggling with officers, as well as assaulting a male officer and kicking him on the head and body.

Irvine had been subject to a restriction of liberty order in recent months and, after hearing from defence agent Tommy Allan that this had been helpful in addressing her drug problems, Sheriff Ian Cruickshank extended the order.

The order requires her to remain within her home between 7pm and 7am every day.