A petulant “mother’s golden boy” who spent two months in prison after refusing to carry out his unpaid work has now been placed on a curfew.
James Ger swore at social workers who told him to make more effort, threw down gardening shears and complained: “This is bulls***”.
The 18-year-old looked shocked when Sheriff David Hall remanded him in custody in July, asking: “Who do you think you are?”
Ger, of Benvie Gardens, Dundee, had been warned he faced prison after repeatedly failing to complete his community payback order.
The social work department, responsible for overseeing community orders, ruled Ger out of any future unpaid work programme.
Having spent time at HMYOI Polmont, he will now be subject to a restriction of liberty order, in place of the original community payback order given to him earlier this year.
The teenager, of Benvie Gardens, had been given an alternative to custody sentence earlier this year after being convicted of possessing cannabis, a lock knife and assaulting a man in 2021.
Defence solicitor Jim Laverty, in mitigation for Ger, told the court at a previous hearing he had always acted like a “truculent teen” and been able to get away with it.
He said: “If I may be blunt, he is 18 but he has the maturity level of a 14-year-old.
“It would appear behaving this way in the past has served him well but in court it is completely different.
“He has been brought up in a family environment where he is the ‘golden boy’, where he can do no wrong.”
Ger will now have to remain in his home address between 7pm and 7am.
Rape trial
A jury is decide on rape allegations against Michael Morley, 40, from Dundee.
The trial will continue on Thursday of Morley, accused of drugging and raping two women in the city.
Expletive-laden rant
A Forfar mechanic admitted threatening to “punch his partner’s c*** in” during an expletive-laden rant.
First offender Craig Kidd appeared at the town’s sheriff court to admit acting in a threatening or abusive manner.
Kidd shouted, swore and made the violent threat at his home on Gallowshade Drive on September 4.
After a “full and frank” interview with police, he responded to being charged by saying “I’m f***ing sorry.”
Solicitor Billy Rennie said the 32-year-old’s business had gone under earlier this year and tensions had risen between the couple, who have been together for more than a decade.
Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown deferred sentencing until December 15 for Kidd to be of good behaviour.
Maths puzzler
Maths professor Peter Ridges admitted following children around changing rooms at a Perth Leisure Pool disco and listening to them while they swapped into their swimwear.
Staff told a trial they were puzzled when the lecturer visited the Saturday night kids’ discos on exactly same day two years in a row.
He pled guilty to breach of the peace on the understanding there was no sexual element to his behaviour.
‘I smoke weed all the time’
A father-of-five has been cleared of an abusive course of conduct against his ex-partner, after telling a court: “I smoke weed all the time, I don’t get aggressive.”
Personal trainer Matthew Hands went on trial at Perth Sheriff Court accused of a 10-month campaign of cruel and controlling behaviour.
It was alleged he repeatedly placed his ex in a state of fear, prevented her from socialising and accessed her mobile without her consent.
The 40-year-old faced allegations he caused her to delete friends on Facebook.
Hands, of Firbank Road, Perth, denied the charge.
When asked about messages sent to his ex via a Facebook profile in his name, he said it was not his account.
“It’s very easy to set up an account in any name,” he said.
However, he accepted that he sent his ex an abusive Whatsapp message, in which he blamed her for the death of a close friend.
In the text he made a comment about her size and called her a “horrible heartless hacket old cow”.
For that he was found guilty of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
Solicitor David Holmes, defending, said: “This was a very isolated incident.
“It was in the context of a relationship gone wrong and the death of a friend which had caused Mr Hands’ considerable heartache.”
During the trial, Hands was asked by fiscal depute Andrew Harding about allegations that he shouted at his ex. “I’m someone who smokes weed all the time, so I don’t get aggressive,” he said.
He was fined £500.
Rapist jailed
Former paratrooper Alan Adsley from Fife, who raped three women in four years, has been jailed for more than 18 years. The 44-year-old admitted assaulting his victims but had denied raping them.
Battered cousin
A 17-year-old boy left his cousin with facial fractures after a serious assault in Lochgelly.
The boy, who can not be identified for legal reasons, attacked his victim by punching and kicking him to the head and body on December 12 last year.
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard the teenager had been with friends and was unimpressed when he answered the door to his relative, who was intoxicated.
Procurator fiscal depute Douglas Thomson said: “Both had a verbal altercation and it turned violent.”
The boy went after his cousin and punched him to the face, causing him to fall to the ground, before landing numerous punches to his head and body.
Mr Thomson said the victim was later taken to Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital and found to have a fractured jaw in two places and a possible broken nose.
The teenager pled guilty to assault to severe injury.
Sheriff Ian Anderson adjourned sentencing until October 11 for the production of background reports.
