Thursday court round-up — Playpark ban and £800 of vapes

A 60-year-old thief who smashed his way into a shop and stole more than £800 worth of vapes was jailed for a year.

On October 13 last year, at 10.05pm, George Russell used a large metal cylinder to shatter the glass door of U-Save in Murray Place, Stirling.

He emerged with three bags full of vapes but an off-duty police officer, waiting at a nearby taxi rank, called colleagues.

Stirling Sheriff Court heard Russell was found with 115 vapes, worth £6.99 each.

Russell, of Bannockburn, pled guilty to theft by breaking and entering and also admitted breaking a window at a takeaway in nearby Friars Street a year earlier, by hurling a rock at it in protest at its prices.

Solicitor Virgil Crawford, defending, said his client had a problem with alcohol.

Desperate raider

An armed robber whose botched bid to hold up a post office in Fife was foiled by courageous workers has been jailed for four years and eight months. Robert Danskin, 36, was tackled by staff members at the NISA local store in Abbey View, Dunfermline, in June 2024. He claimed he was driven to the act by drug-dealers who threatened to kneecap him.

Arbroath abuse

An abusive Arbroath boyfriend has admitted a campaign of offending lasting more than a year and a half.

First offender David Douglas, 21, of Brothock Way in Arbroath, appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court to admit engaging in a course of abusive behaviour between March 2021 and October 2022.

His offending, which took place at properties in his hometown as well as in Dundee, included repeatedly addressing the woman in derogatory terms.

He seized his partner by the body and clothing, pushed her on the body and repeatedly struck her on the head and body to her injury.

He threw furniture at her and compressed her neck, restricting her breathing.

Douglas threw clothing at her, prevented her from contacting or being in the company of her friends and family and repeatedly induced financial payments from her.

Sheriff Derek Reekie deferred sentencing until December 19 for reports.

He said: “On the face of it, quite appalling behaviour over a period of time – without hearing the details, that would appear to be the case.”

Tricky assault

A raver has been cleared of hitting a fellow clubber with a glass bottle because his prosthetic leg would have made it too difficult on the slippery Perth nightclub floor. Ronan Hunter kicked and punched into his victim as he lay on the dancefloor during a “rammy” in the city’s Ice Factory but he was cleared of attacking his victim with a glass bottle after a sheriff ruled it would have been a tricky manoeuvre for him.

Playpark ban

A Perth teenager caught with obscene child abuse images, including depictions of sadism, has been banned from playparks and playgrounds.

Ghazi Shah pled guilty to having indecent images at his home in Carnegie Place between November 26 2021 and April 13 2022.

The 19-year-old further admitted breaking a strict court bail order by being in the company of a child.

Perth Sheriff Court heard he was approached by police investigating a separate matter on May 28 this year and he was with a 15-year-old he had known through school.

Solicitor Linda Clark said: “It’s not that he sought out this individual but he bumped into him on this date and simply didn’t think things through.”

The court earlier heard how police found illicit images on Shah’s mobile when they raided his home.

They featured children as young as three and included sex with adults, sadism and sexual posiing.

Of the images found, 16 were category A, at the top end of the obscenity scale.

Sheriff Jennifer Bain KC placed Shah on the sex offenders register for two years and told him she was concerned he had appeared to attempt to minimise his conduct when speaking to social workers.

She placed him on supervision for two years and ordered him to engaged with the Tay Project scheme for sex offenders.

He must not delete his internet search history or use encryption software and must avoid playparks or anywhere children might reasonably be.

He must inform his supervising officer of any new friendship or relationship.

Neighbour row racism

Fife father and daughter William and Lynne Gilbertson were found guilty after a trial of acting in a racially-aggravated manner towards the latter’s neighbours in a row over a parking bay. The trial heard how the victims were called “immigrant rats” and how Mr Gilbertson built a structure beside the parking space containing stencils of Banksy rats.

Machete

Kirkcaldy man James Johnstone, who brandished a machete at police responding to reports of a violent assault, has been jailed for 10 months.

He grabbed the weapon after being told to get dressed so he could be questioned.

Earlier that evening the 37-year-old had beaten a woman, accusing her of stealing from his grandmother.

Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard Johnstone and his victim had been drinking together on the evening before the assault.

The woman tried to leave but Johnstone said if she did, she would “regret it” and caught her, dragging her along the ground and punching and kicking her head.

Members of the public responded to screams and called the police, who found the woman with concussion and black eyes.

Johnstone was traced and denied offending, then said he would not come without a fight.

Fiscal depute Sarah Smith said more officers were summoned.

“The accused lunged over to his bed and picked up a machete, which was resting on it.

“He began to approach officers with the blade raised above his head.”

Police were able to diffuse the situation and Johnstone was arrested.

Solicitor Alexandra Philp, defending, said her client  had been consuming drugs, including crack cocaine prior to the incident.

Johnstone, a prisoner at Perth, admitted the September 17 assault at Torbain, Kirkcaldy and behaving in a threatening and abusive manner by brandishing a machete.

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