A van driver has admitted “seriously injuring” a motorcyclist in Angus after carelessly failing to stop and give way.
Gordon Huggins, of Ladyloan in Arbroath, was not present at Forfar Sheriff Court when his letter pleading guilty was accepted.
The 61-year-old admitted driving without due care and attention on the A930 near its junction with the slip road to the A92 on September 14 last year.
He failed to give way to motorcyclist Robert Nelson and cut across the biker’s path on the road between Muirdrum and Carnoustie.
The vehicles collided and 32-year-old Mr Nelson was thrown from his bike and landed on Huggins’ van windscreen before falling to the ground.
He was taken to Ninewells by ambulance to be treated for serious injuries.
Sheriff Mark Thorley ordered Huggins to be personally present in the dock when he is sentenced on May 11.
Molester sprints from court
A Dundee child molester sprinted from angry scenes in court after being placed on curfew. Thomas Dolan, 66, was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for committing a sexual assault on a teenage girl at an address in Dundee.
Hot property
A drug addict caught by Perth police with “hot” property has been fined £360.
Alan Beattie, 34, admitted resetting a stolen £460 mountain bike in Dunkeld Road on April 2 2021.
Fiscal depute Andrew Harding told Perth Sheriff Court the bike was taken from a locked shed and Beattie, of Westfield, Luncarty, had it when the car in which he was travelling was pulled over.
He said he had bought it from someone for £50.
Mr Harding said: “He then phoned the seller in the presence of police.
“The individual advised him that the item was ‘hot’.”
Solicitor Mike Tavendale said his client had been struggling with addiction problems for some time.
“He can be very easily led,” he said.
‘Abducted’ brothers
A Kirkcaldy man who “abducted” two brothers and drove them to an industrial estate where they were savagely beaten has been handed a community sentence. Owen Bonner was found not to have taken part in the assault and Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court was told he was “shocked” by the brutality and fled the scene. Three other men were cleared of all charges relating to he incident.
It kicked off after kick off
A 20-year-old assaulted a man in the street after a Raith Rovers v Dunfermline match was called off.
Kieran Stewart, of Middlebank Street in Rosyth, admitted repeatedly kicking his victim on the head and body to his injury in Kirkcaldy’s Nicol Street on August 20 2021.
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard it happened after the match at Stark’s Park was abandoned after around 15 minutes due to an electrical fault in the stadium.
Procurator fiscal depute Eve McKaig said at around 8:30pm two police officers driving in Nicol Street saw a large group of males involved in a “disturbance”, with people “spread across the road” and on either side of the pavement.
They saw Stewart repeatedly kicking the male, who was “curled up in the foetal position attempting to defend himself”.
The complainer had minor grazing to his face.
Stewart pled guilty to assault by letter and did not appear in court. He was fined £667.
Drug-soaked paper
Hayley Watson, 36, from Cumbernauld, was found guilty of supplying paper soaked in designer drugs to her boyfriend Kevin Hogg at HMP Perth. She is thought to have used a child to pass the cannabis-laced sheet to prisoner Kevin Hogg.
Window smash stramash
A Markinch man threw a neighbour over his fence because he believed he was responsible for smashing his windows the day before.
Michael Williamson, 44, left Stuart Freeburn with grazes and bruises in Croft Crescent on August 22 last year.
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard witnesses spotted him pacing in his garden before he called over Mr Freeburn.
Fiscal depute Alistair McDermid said: “The accused then swung a punch at the left side of his head.
“He then threw the complainer over the fence, causing substantial grazing.”
Solicitor Kieran Clegg, defending, said: “He tells me the manner in which the complainer has approached him caused him concern.
“It was a split-second decision and without thinking he punched the complainer.”
There was nothing to suggest Mr Freeman had smashed the windows.
Williamson, a prisoner at Perth, admitted assault and was jailed for 16 months.
Caught by colleagues
A former security guard at Leven’s Diageo complex was caught by fellow workers after sending a sexually explicit message to a 14-year-old girl. David Anderson’s colleagues had become concerned about the 56-year-old’s behaviour on his phone to someone they suspected was a young female, Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard.
Tyre-some tale
A drug driver who blamed a bald tyre for his erratic driving has been banned from the road.
Scott Walker was spotted weaving back and forth across the A9 on March 13 last year.
The 44-year-old had more than twice the permitted level of a cocaine derivative in his system more than 24 hours after taking the drug.
Walker, from Cumbernauld, admitted driving with excess Benzoylecgonine in his blood, without insurance and with a tyre so bald a portion of the cord was exposed.
Sheriff Mark O’Hanlon disqualified him from driving for a year, placed him on supervision for 12 months and ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.
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