Court / Court round-up 23 October

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 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 last month that 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.

The 47-year-old told her to: “F*** off, f*** off, prick”.

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.

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Defence agent Gregor Kelly said that Hughson was “deeply ashamed” about the incident.

Hughson returned to court for sentencing this week, and Kelly said his client knew he had made an “awful mistake”.

He knew that his conduct would have been “deeply alarming” to the complainer, Kelly said, and Hughson wanted to apologise to her.

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank placed Hughson under supervision for a period of six months and ordered him to carry out 70 hours of unpaid work within that same timeframe.

Hughson will also be placed on the sex offender’s register for six months.

A MAN who disguised his phone number to subject his ex-girlfriend to more than four years of unwanted calls and messages has been ordered not to contact her.

William Stevenson, from Cunningsburgh, repeatedly contacted his former partner on or between 1 January 2021 and 13 August 2025 after their relationship ended.

The 45-year-old left her voicemails, which she would not respond to, and then went to lengths to disguise his number after she blocked him.

Stevenson also turned up at her address on several occasions to leave a card and a letter.

He appeared to represent himself at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday, and pleaded guilty to the charge.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said the pair had been together for around seven years before breaking up, with the complainer receiving voicemails from Stevenson requesting to see her after the split.

Though she would not respond and blocked his number, the messages continued from different numbers.

In September 2023 she began to receive texts from Stevenson, who was using an app to disguise his number.

Mackenzie said Stevenson had been “fairly relentless”, but told Sheriff Ian Cruickshank that the messages were not abusive or threatening in nature.

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Eventually the woman had enough and contacted the police, who arrested Stevenson.

Stevenson said he was “very sorry” for the unwanted attention.

“I just wanted to speak to her,” he told the court. “I should have just left it, but I didn’t.”

Sheriff Cruickshank ordered Stevenson not to approach or contact, or attempt to approach or contact, the woman for the next two years.

He was also ordered to be of good behaviour for six months.

A DRINK-driver was caught after a concerned member of the public smelled alcohol on him and followed him from Tesco.

Brian Cooper, from Undirhoull, Scalloway, admitted driving while more than four times the legal limit for alcohol on 13 October 2025.

Cooper was traced by police after a member of the public smelled drink on his breath at the Lerwick supermarket, before seeing him drive off from the car park.

Concerned, they followed the 60-year-old and then gave police an indication of where he was heading to.

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When officers traced Cooper shortly after he had 98 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath, with the legal limit being 22 microgrammes.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said Cooper had a “big night the night before” watching football, and had topped up the following day.

He did not think he would be anywhere near the limit he was at, Allan added.

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank fined Cooper £1,000 and banned him from driving for one year. He can discount the ban by three months if he sits the drink-driver rehabilitation course.

A DISPUTE over whether two young men had met each other before resulted in one being thrown into a table at a nightclub and the other fined at Lerwick Sheriff Court.

Luke Sinclair, of Lerwick’s Burnbank, admitted assaulting the complainer at Trench nightclub on 1 June this year.

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The altercation took place after the complainer introduced himself to Sinclair, 22, who said he knew who he was already.

Sinclair got into the other man’s face and said so in an “aggressive manner”, grabbing hold of the complainer who told him he did not want to fight.

Despite that, Sinclair flung the man to the ground and as he fell he hit his head against the corner of a table.

Security threw Sinclair out and the complainer was taken to hospital for treatment to a two centimetre gash to his eyebrow.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said Sinclair “didn’t just do this out of nothing”, and that there was more to the story than had been put across by the procurator fiscal.

However, he said Sinclair admitted he should not have reacted as he did.

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank fined Sinclair £400, and also ordered him to pay his victim £500 in compensation – for a total financial penalty of £900.