Is there a more romantic way to spend Valentine’s night than cosying up together with a box of chocolates, and reading through our latest collection of true crime tales from courts across Tayside and Fife?
Care home embezzler
A former Kingdom Homes employee has admitted stealing £10,000 from the company.
Jennifer Carstairs pocketed the cash while working for the care home giant over a period of nearly 18 months.
The 26-year-old was not at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court when her case called.
Her solicitor tendered a guilty plea to a single charge of embezzlement between May 2019 and the end of September 2020.
Details of the case were not read out in court.
Carstairs, of Scott Road, Glenrothes, will be sentenced on March 10.
Sheriff Pino Di Emidio ordered a criminal justice social work report and a restriction of liberty order assessment.
Kingdom Homes did to respond to requests for comment.
Red light smash
A 32-year-old Fife man has been fined £1,000 for driving through a red light and causing a crash with another car in Dunfermline town centre.
Christopher Dunlop, 32, of Fleming Crescent in Blairhall, admitted driving carelessly on November 27, 2018, by driving through the stop light in Pilmuir Street at its junction with Carnegie Drive.
Procurator fiscal depute Mat Piskorz told the town’s sheriff court that the vehicles “spun round” on the road as a result of the collision, causing damage to both, and that the airbags were deployed.
Mr Piskorz said: “A lamppost at the junction was also damaged and knocked over, exposing live electrical cables.”
Defence lawyer Peter Robertson said Dunlop, a plumber, had been travelling from the direction of the court and turned right while the other car was coming from the direction of Tesco, and that the number of traffic lights at the junction caused some “confusion.”
Sheriff James MacDonald fined Dunlop £1,000 and endorsed his driving licence with eight penalty points.
Banned driver jailed
A Fife tradesman drove his van while disqualified because he was afraid he would lose a potential customer.
Graham Dewar had set up a flooring company with family members after leaving the army.
Fiscal depute Zahra Bhatti told Dunfermline Sheriff Court that the 36-year-old was first caught at the wheel on CCTV at a petrol station.
He was latter stopped by police driving for a second time through Balingry.
Solicitor Ian Beatson, defending, said family members usually drive the vehicle for him but weren’t available at the time.
But after being asked for a quote for work by a potential client, and “anxious” that he would lose the opportunity, he decided to drive.
Mr Beatson said Dewar now recognised the seriousness and potential consequences of his actions.
Dewar, of Kirkland Gardens, Ballingry, admitted driving while disqualified at Glenrothes’ Bankhead Avenue on December 22 and on Ballingry’s Craigie Street on January 12.
He further admitted having no insurance at the time of the second offence.
Dewar, who has several similar previous convictions, was jailed for a total of eight months and banned from driving for five years.
Blackmail plot
A blackmail plotter who posted revenge porn videos of an Iraqi General’s daughter has been jailed for nearly four years.
Karivan Mizuri was also made the subject of a non-harassment order for 20 years which forbids him from having any contact with his victim.
Sheriff Lorna Drummond QC also imposed a 12-month supervised release order upon him “in order to protect the public from harm.”
Dundee Sheriff Court was told that Mizuri’s campaign of abuse had been designed to “shame, humiliate and embarrass” the 23-year-old student.
Sheriff Drummond jailed him for 47 months and said it was clear that it had caused her “immense” hurt and had been worsened because of her cultural and religious background.
The full caseload of the Dundee Crime and Courts Team can be found here.
