A man has admitted spitting in a police officer’s face in a Leven nightclub.
Ross Slaven, 24, appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court to admit the December 17 assault in Truth Nightclub on North Street.
Sheriff Ian Anderson deferred sentence until August 9.
He continued bail for Slaven, of Dunbar Place in Kirkcaldy.
Petrol pump murder bid
A car driver who tried to murder four men at a Birnam garage forecourt in a row over fuel payment faces a lengthy jail sentence. Charlie Tunstall repeatedly reversed a stolen VW Golf at mechanics and struck one with the vehicle during the attack, leaving him with life-threatening injuries.
ATM rage
Scaffolder Michael Tarbett has been fined after damaging a bank machine screen on Lochee High Street.
He admitted vandalising the ATM of the TSB bank on August 27 2020, causing £2,000 of damage.
Solicitor Jim Caird, in mitigation, said: “There is quite a detailed report available.
“It explains he became frustrated.
“He was intoxicated at the time.
“He said he hit the machine because it would not give him money.
“He is in a position to pay a fine. He tells me he has put this incident behind him.”
Tarbett, of St Clement’s Place, Dundee, was fined £1,000 at Dundee Sheriff Court.
Domestic brute
A Newburgh man has admitted leaving his partner’s ears “torn and weeping” after pulling on them during a violent attack carried out in the middle of the night. Andrew Halley, 49, appeared at Dundee Sheriff Court to admit the brutal June 13 domestic assault.
Perth ‘pest’
The manager of a Perth supermarket was left with blood pouring from a wound after a teenage customer lobbed a drinks can at his head.
William McKenzie was attacked by a 17-year-old at Sainsbury’s High Street branch.
Perth Sheriff Court heard Mr McKenzie was helping a colleague deal with a different unruly customer when he was stuck by the flying can.
Fiscal depute Sarah Wilkinson said the teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was in the shop and witnessed a “verbal altercation” between the staff and the customer.
“With his right arm, he threw a juice can at Mr McKenzie which struck him on this face,” she said.
“This resulted in blood streaming from his face.”
The teenager, from Perth, admitted the assault, on April 11 last year.
He further pled guilty to possessing £110 of cannabis on South Street days earlier and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner at Argyll Road Park on June 18.
The accused further admitted assaulting a woman by striking her on the body with a stone to her injury at Tayview, Luncarty, on July 15.
Sheriff Andrew Berry told the teenager: “This could be seen as simply the result of growing pains or juvenile behaviour.
“But other people could just regard you as a pest.”
The teenager was placed on a structured deferred sentence, which will be reviewed in October.
Saints celebrations went ‘pear-shaped’
A veteran security guard has told a court how he was forced to retreat from a group of advancing St Johnstone fans when post-Scottish Cup win celebrations “went pear-shaped” at McDiarmid Park. Lewis Macleod, 23, of Belmont Park, Scone is on trial for an alleged part in the incident.
‘You are right, I do want to kill someone’
A 19-year-old Fife man held a safety knife to his arm and made a violent threat in front of colleagues at Dunfermline’s Amazon operations warehouse.
Dylan Reid, of Elders Knowe, Ballingry, pled guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner on January 31 this year.
Procurator fiscal depute Jill Currie told Dunfermline Sheriff Court Reid had become annoyed after colleagues confronted him about remarks he’d been making.
The fiscal depute said Reid then ran his safety knife up and down his forearm and made eye contact with a colleague while saying: “You are right, I do want to kill someone.”
Ms Currie said: “He was described as clenching teeth as he was doing this and staring at (a witness) and making marks on his arm with the knife.
“Both witnesses were extremely scared by this remark and it caused them to report the behaviour to their manager.”
Defence lawyer Stephen Morrison said Reid has experienced significant mental health issues.
He said his client, a first offender, was suspended to find a way to assist him and is now working part time in a different area of the site.
The solicitor also stressed the safety knife is a work tool used to open boxes.
Sheriff David Hall adjourned sentencing until August 10 for reports.
Not sexual assaults
David Young, 30, from Dunfermline avoided the Sex Offenders Register after his bottom-grabbing assaults on two women in a Dunfermline pub were deemed non-sexual. He was convicted of common assault instead.
The full caseload of the Dundee Crime and Courts Team can be found here.
