An Arbroath thug has been found guilty of robbing a woman with a tomahawk axe in a terrifying shop raid.
Dale Crookshank walked into Sam’s Store in Arbroath, clad almost entirely in black.
He brandished the weapon at the shopkeeper, robbing her of £85, three pouches of cigarette tobacco and a bottle of booze.
Crookshank, 31, of Leonard Street, Arbroath, had denied assaulting the woman by presenting an axe at her and possessing the offensive weapon on July 18 2020.
Following a two-day trial at Dundee Sheriff Court, a jury found Crookshank guilty.
The court was shown CCTV footage from inside the small convenience store on Ponderlaw Street.
It showed Crookshank, dressed in a black top with hood and dark trousers, approach the shop worker, before brandishing the axe.
He was then seen scooping items into a dark rucksack, which the Crown argued was similar to one spotted being worn by the accused at an earlier time.
Sheriff Alistair Carmichael continued the case until February 23 and called for reports, adding: “There is a distinct possibility a custodial sentence will be imposed.”
Chef terrorised woman
A jealous chef pinned a woman to the floor of a Dundee restaurant at knifepoint and told her he would slash her face to make her look like The Joker. Dragos Henter pulled a kitchen knife with a ten-inch blade on his victim during a four-year campaign of bullying.
Failed to look due to audiobook
A Ballingry plumber caused a pile up on Standing Stane Road in Fife after being distracted by his audiobook.
David Drylie, 32, admitted driving carelessly and damaging four vehicles in the crash on June 3 2021.
His solicitor Lee Qumsieh said her client’s concentration lapsed while listening to an audiobook and he failed to see traffic had stopped to let a vehicle turn right towards Wellsgreen Golf Range.
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard CCTV from a nearby house showed Drylie, off Malcolm Street in Ballingry, had five or six seconds to react.
Ms Qumsieh said: “He seems to have been preoccupied with something. He was listening to an audiobook.
“He does a lot of miles. He seems to have learned a lesson from this.
“It was an extremely frightening experience.”
Drylie, who had initially been charged with dangerous driving, was fined £190 and furnished with five penalty points.
Paedo in Speedos
A pervert was caught peering under a Fife swimming pool cubicle as a 12-year-old girl got changed. Krzysztof Sawa was found guilty of voyeurism at Fife Sports & Leisure Trust’s Levenmouth pool in October 2021.
Neighbour knife naughtiness
William Ritchie, 61, was placed on a structured deferred sentence for having a knife during an argument with a noisy neighbour outside his home in Westmuir, near Kirriemuir.
Forfar Sheriff Court heard, while gardening on July 16 last year, he shouted at a neighbour who arrived, blasting music from his car.
Fiscal depute Stuart Hamilton said Ritchie shouted: “Put down your f***ing music”.
When the driver replied, Ritchie dropped a bundle of sticks he was carrying, revealing an eight-inch knife.
He approached the driver but was punched in the face.
Ritchie brandished the blade in the ensuing struggle but the man hit him with one of the dropped sticks.
Escaping, the man shouted: “You’re a f***ing lunatic, if you ever come at me with a knife again, I’ll have you.”
Police noted Ritchie he had bruising on his back and scratches on his forearm.
He admitted having the vegetable knife and said: “I’ve just been an idiot.”
Ritchie admitted behaving threateningly and possessing the knife.
His solicitor said: “He displayed extremely poor judgement on this day.”
He said there was a “background” and the relationship between the neighbours had deteriorated, although there had been no further incidents.
Tried to light husband
A woman who believed her husband was keeping secrets from her tried to set him on fire in their Dundee home. Farah Al-Nuaimi, 34, flew into a rage and took a lighter to her husband’s jumper.
Revenge porn threat
An ex-navy Glenrothes man has admitted threatening to send an intimate video of a woman to her son and her son’s school.
Greg Tipling, of Auchmithie Place, appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court to admit sending a series of grossly offensive messages.
He sent the menacing texts to a man and woman between April and December last year and also repeatedly issued threats of violence.
Sentence was deferred until February 22 and first offender Tipling, 33, was not placed on the Sex Offenders Register.
For the latest court cases across Tayside and Fife, join our Courts Facebook page.
