Court / Lerwick Sheriff Court round-up 15 January

A DRIVER who seriously injured a woman in another car after pulling out and causing a crash has been banned from the road and ordered to pay her victim £1,000.

Laura Tulloch, 41, admitted driving without due care and attention after failing to give way at the Vidlin junction as she turned on to the A970 main road between Lerwick and Voe.

The incident on 16 September last year resulted in the passenger of another car suffering “quite serious” injuries, including lacerations to her spleen, fractured ribs and a fracture to her vertebrae.

Tulloch, from Brough, Whalsay, “simply didn’t see the car” and had “demonstrated the appropriate remorse” for her part in the incident afterwards, defence agent Tommy Allan said.

“This is going to have quite a serious impact on her,” he said.

Sheriff Philip Mann said that this would have been a simple case of careless driving if it were not for the level of injuries that the other woman had suffered.

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He said the level of carelessness in Tulloch’s driving was “fairly low”.

Tulloch was banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay her victim £1,000 in compensation. She was also fined £200.

A MIDLOTHIAN man who threatened to “slice” people who intervened after he had assaulted his partner has been fined.

Christopher Scratchard, from Gorebridge, admitted repeatedly pushing the women on her body on 1 December at Commercial Road in Lerwick, and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner to onlookers.

The court heard the 43-year old and his partner had gotten into an argument just after 9pm, leading to Scratchard repeatedly pushing her against the outside of a building.

Three members of the public and the driver of a passing car were “so alarmed” by his behaviour that they rushed over to try and break it up.

The group “didn’t approach in any aggressive way”, procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said.

But that did not stop Scratchard from threatening to “slice them up”, with Scratchard also telling them “I’ll slash youse”.

The woman was shaken up and tearful after the incident, but was supporting him at court on Wednesday and did not want a non-harassment order imposed.

Defence agent Tommy Allan that his client could not even remember what the argument with his partner was about, and that he accepted he had pushed her.

He said Scratchard had “felt outnumbered” by the people approaching and had said things he had no intention of carrying out.

Sheriff Philip Mann said Scratchard did not “have a very good record” and fined him a total of £900.

A TWENTY-one year old man has been fined after smashing his father’s TV during an argument.

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Nathan McAlpine, whose address was given as Calderdale in West Yorkshire, was drinking at his father’s home in Lerwick on 16 August last year when a row erupted.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said the young man had consumed around double the quantity of alcohol as his father, but that there did not seem to be any reason for the argument at roughly 1am.

McAlpine became “more and more aggressive” and began throwing cans of lager and TV remote controls around the room and at his father.

He then started punching his father in the head, before throwing more items around the room – eventually breaking the TV screen.

McAlpine only stopped when he was told that he had smashed the TV, causing around £1,300 in damage.

He admitted assaulting his father and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner on the night in question.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said McAlpine had since paid his father back for the damage to the TV.

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Sheriff Philip Mann fined McAlpine £400.

A MAN from Newcastle who attacked two men and door staff outside Trench nightclub has been fined.

Sam Seymour, from Sunniside, admitted butting one man on the head, punching another and struggling violently with staff in the early hours of 18 May last year.

Seymour had “clearly had too much to drink” at around 2am and was standing outside when a row broke out between him and another man.

The 30-year old’s reaction to this was to butt the man forcefully in his face, causing a cut to his lip.

Seymour became “extremely aggressive” in the aftermath, as door staff tried in vain to calm him down.

Eventually he had to be restrained, with Seymour struggling violently and shouting and swearing at them.

He then managed to break free and punched a man, who was “simply standing nearby”, in the face.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said that the victim of the first assault had also punched Seymour in the face, and that his client had been “clearly intoxicated”.

Sheriff Philip Mann fined Seymour £400.