Court / Court round-up 4 September
Content warning: This story contains details of sexual abuse. If you have been affected by these issues, help is available.
A MAN who sexually assaulted a woman and then swore in her face when she confronted him has been told he will be placed on the sex offenders register.
Steven Hughson, from South Whiteness, carried out the assault during a community event in Whiteness on 8 February 2025.
Lerwick Sheriff Court heard the woman was on the hall floor when Hughson walked onto the stage and grabbed her head.
He forcibly thrust it a “number of times” towards his own crotch before walking off to the bar.
The woman afterwards approached the man to challenge him about his behaviour.
After the 47-year-old made a comment about the incident the woman again challenged him, to which he said: “F*** off, f*** off, prick”.
The woman’s friends found her upset and distressed afterwards, and the incident was reported to the police.
When interviewed by police Hughson said that did not sound like something he would have done, but told officers “yeah, if there’s witnesses” then he must have.
Defence agent Gregor Kelly said that Hughson was “deeply ashamed” about the incident.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank deferred sentencing for the preparation of a criminal justice social work report, and told Hughson he will be subject to sexual offender notification requirements.
Hughson will return for sentencing on 22 October.
A YOUNG man who was more than 11 times over the limit for cocaine when stopped by police has been banned from driving and fined.
Brendan Mair, from Brough, Whalsay, was also 16 times over the limit for the cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine after failing a drugs test on 3 April this year.
Mair, 24, was stopped by police due to the manner of his driving on a number of roads in Lerwick at around 11pm and provided a positive drug test.
He had 113 microgrammes of cocaine per litre of blood – with the limit being just 10mcg.
And Mair had 800mcg of benzoylecgonine per litre of blood, with the limit being 50mcg.
Representing himself, Mair said this had been a “mistake” and that he had been “naïve”.
“I thought it would be out of my system,” he added.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank fined Mair £1,200 and banned him from driving for 12 months.
A TWENTY ONE year old who bit a policeman has been given a community payback order.
Nathan McAlpine, of Mounthooly Place, had previously pleaded guilty to a string of offences on 27 July of this year.
McAlpine had approached the officers and called them “f***ing weirdos”, before being arrested.
While in the cell compartment of the police van, McAlpine repeatedly spat and was kicking and punching the cell walls, injuring himself in the process.
The court that he also bit one of the police officers in the arm at the police station, “breaking the skin”.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank had deferred sentencing for the preparation of a criminal justice social work report.
McAlpine returned for sentencing on Wednesday, and the sheriff said this was a “serious matter yet again involving behaviour towards police officers which is wholly unacceptable”.
He said, however, that it was quite clear from the report that McAlpine had taken a significant amount of time to reflect on his own actions.
McAlpine was placed under supervision for 12 months and ordered to carry out 130 hours of unpaid work during that time.
AN OVERTAKE manoeuvre which “should never have been taken” resulted in a heavy fine and ban for one elderly driver.
Anthony Hunter, 75, admitted carrying out the dangerous overtake in heavy rain and poor visibility on the A970 main road just after the Shetland Golf Club junction at Dale on 31 October last year.
He did so into the face of an oncoming vehicle, which had to take evasive action and pull swiftly into a space at the side of the road to avoid a collision.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said it was a “matter of good fortune” that there was a parking space at the roadside “just at the point” that the two cars came face-to-face.
“If it hadn’t occurred at that precise location there would have been a significant head-on collision,” he told Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday.
Defence agent Tommy Allan said Hunter, from Skellister, South Nesting, was unable to recollect the incident.
He said it was clear that “everybody was very lucky there was no serious injury as a result”.
Allan added that Hunter lived in a rural area with poor bus connections, and that losing his licence would have a “great effect on his mobility”.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank said it was clear there was a “high degree of dangerousness” in the incident.
He fined Hunter £1,000 and banned him from the road for 12 months. Hunter will also be required to sit the extended test of competence to regain his driving licence.
A MAN who repeatedly punched his brother in the head after old family wounds were re-opened has been fined at Lerwick Sheriff Court.
Steven Mays, from Irvine, was in Shetland with his mother on holiday at the time of the offence on 10 June 2025.
After a large amount of drink was consumed between the three, a family argument was “resurrected” – defence agent Tommy Allan said – leading to a fight between Mays and his brother.
He admitted repeatedly punching his brother in the head at an address in Cunningsburgh during the dispute.
Allan said 49-year-old Mays “accepts that he didn’t react very well”, and that both brothers traded blows during the fight.
Mays was bailed after his arrest, and the three continued their family holiday Allan said – including going out for meals and touring Shetland together. Sheriff Ian Cruickshank fined Mays £500.
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