Court round-up 9 July

A BANNED driver who suffered a suspected seizure at the wheel and crashed through a fence in Lerwick has been heavily fined.

Vitalijs Melnikovs, from Burra, admitted driving on 31 January 2026 while already medically disqualified and driving across the Co-op roundabout into a fence after suffering another epileptic seizure.

Melnikovs, 51, had been banned on 2 November 2023 because of his epilepsy, but on 31 January drove at excessive speed, and drove into the pavement into a sign and fence.

He then allowed Kevin Inkster, also from Burra, to drive the same car on 11 February 2026 while it posed a “danger to injury” to others, with collision damage and multiple sharp edges still visible.

The pair appeared from the dock at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said Melnikovs knew full well that he was banned from driving and shouldn’t have been behind the wheel at the time of the incident.

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But when police arrived at the scene, Melnikovs “repeatedly denied” that there was any medical reason why he should not be driving.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said Melnikovs had just started a new job at the time which public transport did not fit in with, and he had made the misguided decision to drive home.

The car was being driven by Inkster, 56, while Melnikovs was banned, he said.

Sheriff Neil Wilson fined Melnikovs a total of £1,200 and banned him from the road for 16 months. He will also have to sit the extended test of competency before regaining his licence.

Inkster was fined £200 and handed three penalty points.

A DRINK-driver who collided with a taxi and then left the scene without stopping has been banned from driving.

Jamie Slater, from Gott, made a “series of bad decisions” which led to him driving home in the early hours of 20 June 2026 because there were no taxis available.

Slater, 31, admitted to driving dangerously on the way to Tingwall and veering back and forth onto the wrong side of the road, before colliding with a taxi.

The taxi had to drive onto the verge to avoid a head-on collision with Slater, who then left the scene without stopping. The taxi driver followed Slater home before confronting him about his driving.

Slater was breathalysed by police when they arrived, and found to have 54 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath – with the limit 22mcg.

Defence agent Tommy Allan told Lerwick Sheriff Court that Slater had made several attempts to get a taxi home, but that there were none available due to other events in Shetland.

He then made the decision to drive the “relatively short distance home”.

Slater was “grateful that no-one was hurt” and had co-operated fully with police, he said.

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Sheriff Neil Wilson banned Slater for driving for 12 months and fined him £1,000. He will also have to sit the extended test of competency to regain his licence.

A DRIVER who failed to stop at a temporary traffic light was then caught with cannabis in his car.

Michael Byrne, from Mossbank, admitted failing to stop at the lights near Voe on 6 February 2026, and to driving while over the limit for delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

He also admitted having a class B drug, namely cannabis, in his possession.

Police stopped Byrne to speak to him after he drove through the lights a mile south of Voe, and then spotted a strong smell of cannabis in the car.

Byrne, 32, admitted he had been smoking the drug, and was found to have 5.9mcg of delta-9 THC per litre of blood in his system – with the limit 2mcg.

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He also had 1.93g of cannabis on him and said he had been self-medicating because his medical prescription had elapsed.

Sheriff Neil Wilson banned Byrne for driving for one year and fined him £500 at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

A MAN accused of a string of sexual assaults is likely to go to trial, after hopes of a resolution to the case were extinguished.

Ian Herridge, from Hillswick, is accused of various sexual offences against a number of young women between 1 January 2019 and 5 April 2025, at a business in the North Mainland.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said last week at Lerwick Sheriff Court that he was confident the case was capable of resolution, and that he would be meeting Herridge this week.

But on Wednesday, Allan told the court that Herridge, 72, was sticking to his not guilty pleas on all the offences.

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Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said there were a large number of vulnerable witnesses, and said special arrangements would have to be made for them to give evidence remotely.

Some of them will give evidence in Aberdeen and others in Edinburgh, he said.

Finding suitable dates for this could prove to be a “difficult logistical exercise,” he admitted.

The case was continued until 29 July.