A new week in the courts of Tayside and Fife.
999 ‘short-changed’ call
A racist alcoholic who phoned police to call the man who allegedly short-changed him a “p*ki” has been sentenced.
Ian Rodger pled guilty to acting in a threatening manner and repeatedly making racially offensive remarks to a Police Scotland call handler.
At around 11:30am on June 26, he phoned 999 to report he had been short changed.
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard the call handler felt Rodger was under the influence of alcohol.
Rodger then went on the call the person “a p*ki” and added a comment about sending them back to their own country.
When he was challenged about the comment by the call handler, Rodger “sniggered.”
His solicitor Christine Hagan said her client did apologise while on the call.
She said: “Mr Rodger is an alcoholic and has been for a number of years.
“He gets drunk and he says things.”
Sheriff Jamie Gilchrist said: “He has five previous convictions for racist conduct. He is a racist.”
The sheriff placed him on a restriction of liberty order banning him from leaving his home at Julian Road in Glenrothes between 7pm and 7am for five months.
Teenage rapist
Tayside double rapist Darren Cameron attacked his first victim when he was just 14 or 15 years old. The Perth 25-year-old has been jailed for five years for raping a woman between September 2011 and May 2012 and another in 2019.
Boot-sized dent
A Perth woman who attacked her ex-partner’s van, causing hundreds of pounds’ worth of damage, has been ordered to stay out of trouble.
Jamie-Lee Ferguson admitted damaging the bodywork of Stephen Butler’s Ford Transit van on Tweedsmuir Road in February 2021.
Mr Butler was beside the vehicle when he heard a loud bang at a rear passenger door, where Ferguson was standing.
She told him: “You should see this.”
Mr Butler noticed a large boot-sized dent in the door.
Fiscal depute Andrew Harding said the damage was valued at £340.
Solicitor Paul Ralph said Ferguson, of Balgowan Road, Perth, later texted Mr Butler: “Yes, I kicked your car. So f***ing what?”
Sheriff Alastair Brown deferred sentence until July and promised Ferguson if she stayed out of trouble she would be admonished.
“If you don’t behave then something else will happen, and that could be a lot more unpleasant,” the sheriff added.
Blue WKD
A father who was left with a “life-threatening” wound when his son clubbed him with a blue WKD bottle asked the sheriff not to impose a prison sentence. Reece Thomson was sentenced to a restriction of liberty order when he appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.
Red light means danger
A hidden camera creep was caught when his victim spotted the blinking red light on the the video equipment he had installed in a shower. The light had initially been covered with black tape.
Model train enthusiast Carl Fisher said the tape was there because fellow hobbyists had bullied him over the light when he made films of his train collection. The court did not believe his claim he had left the camera in the shower room in Perthshire by mistake.
Soldier jailed
A former soldier who tried to mow down his ex-partner with a car has been jailed for 21 months.
Danielle Kelly told a trial at Perth Sheriff Court how Alexander Drummond behaved “like an animal” when he mounted a pavement and sped towards her, forcing her to jump out of the way.
Drummond, 36, was found guilty of assaulting Ms Kelly to the danger of her life after a trial in November.
A jury heard that he entered her home in Carse Terrace, Alloa, on October 9, 2020.
He shouted at her and chased her out of the property, before driving a car at speed towards her, mounting a pavement and continuing to drive at her, forcing her to take evasive action to avoid being struck.
Sheriff Euan Duthie, at Perth Sheriff Court, said a background report on Drummond suggested some “victim blaming”.
He told Drummond: “Whatever the history between you and the complainer, this was an unprovoked attack which endangered the life of your former partner.
“What makes this particularly serious is that you used a motor vehicle to carry out the assault.”
He said: “You have a significant history of offending.
“I’m particularly concerned at the scant regret expressed (in the report) and the apparent lack of insight or empathy with the victim.”
Solicitor Brian Allison said the danger to the victim was “very limited and potential” rather than “real”.
Ms Kelly told the court she had to jump into a bush beside her house to move out of the way of Drummond’s advancing car.
She told the trial: “I saw a change in his face – he was dangerous.”
The full caseload of the Dundee Crime and Courts Team can be found here.
