Court / Court round-up 5 June
A MAN has been ordered to complete 75 hours of unpaid work after attending a fines hearing at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Thursday from custody.
A warrant was issued on Wednesday for sovereignty campaigner Stuart Hill, of Cunningsburgh, after he did not appear for a case relating a £500 fine given to him in Kirkwall for failing to declare expense he incurred when standing as a candidate in the 2017 general election.
At Thursday’s hearing the 82-year-old, who represented himself, disputed the power of the court and Sheriff Ian Cruickshank.
Hill said as “the man” he was the “superior figure in this court”.
He also said a court letter he received in March did not give a date for Wednesday’s hearing – although Sheriff Cruickshank noted how Hill said in correspondence that he would not be attending anyway.
The sheriff said Hill’s arguments over jurisdiction were “too late in the day” and that it was a matter for a higher court.
Sheriff Cruickshank asked Hill if he had appealed the £500 fine from Kirkwall – to which he said no.
The sheriff then asked him if the fine had been paid in part or in full, with Hill then saying the name on the court papers – Stuart Alan Hill – was “legal fiction”.
Sheriff Cruickshank said options available to him regarding a failure to pay a fine included 14 days imprisonment. One alternative was that Hill could ask for more time to pay.
When asked if he was seeking more time to pay the fine, Hill said no.
In lieu of the fine Sheriff Cruickshank then decided to place Hill under a community payback order which included 75 hours of unpaid work. He said this would be “for the good of the Shetland community”.
A review of the community payback order will be held on 30 July to check Hill’s progress with the unpaid work.
A MAN from Lerwick has pleaded guilty to getting behind the wheel while disqualified and over a drug-driving limit.
Peter John Henderson, of Stout’s Court, admitting carrying out the offences on the A971 and B9074 roads on 3 August last year.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said police officers went to look for the 43-year-old at around 8.45pm after receiving intelligence that he had been driving despite being disqualified.
He said after being arrested he was taken to Lerwick Police Station where tests were carried out.
At court on Thursday Henderson admitted a charge of driving a car when the proportion of Clonazepam in his blood was not less than 51 microgrammes per litre of blood, with the limit being 50 microgrammes.
Mackenzie noted however that the blood sample was taken at around twenty past midnight – some hours after police were first alerted.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank deferred the case until 2 July for the preparation of a criminal justice social work report and issued an interim disqualification.
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