Court / ‘Well behaved’ dog in the dock but owner penalised

STANLEY the dog earned praise in the dock, but his owner did not escape so lightly at Lerwick Sheriff Court today (Thursday).

Steven Nicholson, 38, admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner to his partner on 25 January this year, by seizing hold of her body and struggling with her.

Nicholson, from Veester Hill, Sandwick, also admitted removing a bandage on his hand and smearing blood around the back of the police van on his way to Lerwick police station on the same date.

The court heard that the van had to be “professionally cleaned” as a result.

Nicholson entered the dock with his emotional support dog Stanley, who Nicholson said was there to “keep me right”.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said the circumstances of the incident were that Nicholson and his partner were both “leading a fairly chaotic lifestyle” at the time.

A disturbance had occurred which had resulted in a struggle between the two, leading Nicholson to call the police.

Advertisement10 of 10

When they arrived he was “quite belligerent” and was accusing his partner of stealing his medicinal cannabis.

Police had to “quite forcibly say they were going to stay where they were until they established what happened”.

Nicholson had an injury to his hand which had reopened while he searched for his medicinal cannabis, which then started “bleeding quite heavily”.

Mackenzie described it as seeming “like an arterial bleed”.

“He kept removing the bandage in the back of the van simply as an act of belligerence,” the fiscal said.

“He was flicking the blood around the interior of the van.”

The cost of cleaning the van was in the hundreds of pounds, he added.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said Nicholson and his partner had gotten back together recently at the time of the offence, and that “old things came up”.

“He was upset and emotional by the time police came,” Allan added.

Nicholson’s partner, who was at court with him, did not support a non-harassment order being imposed.

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank admonished Nicholson on the threatening behaviour charge.

However, he ordered him to pay £400 compensation to Police Scotland for the cleaning of the van.

The sheriff praised the behaviour of Stanley the dog before they left the dock, adding: “I wish everybody in this court was as well behaved as you.”