Starting the week with a bang.
Crash
A 21-year-old student smashed into a parked car and drove on pavements while she was under the influence of alcohol and street valium.
Rachel Rippin had fled barefoot from a house after a row with her partner and decided to drive several miles back to her home address.
She struck several kerbs and drove on the wrong side of the road while speeding up and slowing down without any warning to other motorists.
At Dundee Sheriff Court, she was banned from driving for a year and ordered to re-sit the extended driving test before getting back behind the wheel.
Rippin, from Glenrothes, was also placed under supervision for nine months by Sheriff Alistair Carmichael.
She admitted driving dangerously and while she was intoxicated in George Street, Cellardyke, the A917 Anstruther to Pittenweem road, and in Leven, Fife, on June 6, 2020.
She admitted damaging a parked car, repeatedly slowing down and speeding up, repeatedly striking the kerb and mounting pavements, and driving on the wrong side of the road.
Solicitor Mike Short, defending, said: “This was a one-off.
“It was an unfortunate set of circumstances.
“She wasn’t coping well. She was in an abusive relationship and that has finished.
“She has never been in this position before and doesn’t like being in this position.
“She is keen to get back to college and work.”
Bang
Bus driver Stephen Reid narrowly avoided losing his job after admitting hitting and injuring an 81-year-old pedestrian as he drove an Xplore Dundee bus on Lochee High Street.
The city’s JP court heard the imposition of six penalty points on his driving licence would see his employment terminated.
Walloper
A Coupar Angus man hurled garden ornaments through his own kitchen window, smashing his oven, when his partner locked him out.
Gavin Campbell appeared at Perth Sheriff Court to admit wilfully or recklessly smashing a window and damaging an oven at his home in Princess Croft.
Campbell had got into an argument with his partner on the morning of October 9 and left to walk the dog but the argument resumed when he arrived home some two hours later.
He left again but promptly returned to collect belongings.
Upon finding out he was locked out, the 36-year-old hurled three stone garden ornaments at his kitchen window, smashing the top pane and the oven inside.
His solicitor David Holmes explained he had already forked out £350 to repair the cooker.
Sheriff Francis Gill deferred sentencing until March 23.
“I’m concerned about the previous matters so I’m going to call for a report here,” the sheriff said.
Abuser jailed
A Fife man who carried out indecent and sexual assaults on a woman over a 13-year period has been jailed. David Maxwell, 48, of Balgonie Avenue in Glenrothes, assaulted the woman and sent her social media abuse. He was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register.
The full caseload of the Dundee Crime and Courts Team can be found here.
