Two men have denied assaulting a murder suspect.
Ewan Dingwall and Keiren McTavish are accused of pushing Christopher Brown on the body and striking him to the neck to his injury, at a property in Oakley’s Erskine Wynd on February 1.
Dingwall, 20, of Selvage Street, Rosyth, pled not guilty when he appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.
McTavish, 22, of Hill View in Oakley, did not appear in court but his solicitor tendered a not guilty plea.
Procurator fiscal depute Amy Robertson told the court the complainer in the case is currently remanded in relation to alleged murder.
Sheriff Charles Macnair adjourned the case to a later date this month.
Last month, Christopher Brown appeared in court accused of murdering 57-year-old Henry White.
Mr White‘s body was found in a property in Oakley’s Erskine Wynd on March 22.
Letter-writing nuisance
A Forfar man who had been locked up for sending worrying letters to a woman at his church mailed more concerning correspondence to a different woman from his prison cell. John Dunbar, 49, was remanded after writing letters, including one telling a woman he would not rape her. However, from his cell, he sent more unsolicited mail to a local shop worker. Sentence has been deferred.
Carer’s driving ban
An Angus carer has had to purchase a bicycle to get to work after she scraped a van while almost three times over the drink-drive limit.
Tearful Shona Mair appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court to admit driving with excess alcohol (59mics/22) on an unclassified rod near Kellas on April 6.
Fiscal depute Bill Kermode explained Mair clipped a van at around 12.10pm and its driver asked if she had been drinking.
She replied she had been the night before.
Police arrived just after 1pm and the 54-year-old failed the roadside breath test.
Defence solicitor Scott Norrie said his client was a support worker with Dundee City Council, who had fostered 27 children.
He said: “Her employers are aware.
“As I understand it, it’s not essential that she has a licence.
“It will cause a great deal of difficulty. She has purchased a bicycle.”
He said she had been working from home and there were “a number of pressures.”
Sheriff Timothy Niven-Smith banned Mair, of Wellbank, for a year and fined her £533.33, plus a £40 victim surcharge.
The sheriff said: “You’ve reached an age where you haven’t previously appeared before the court.
“It’s unfortunate but I can see from your emotion that you are contrite.”
One metre drink-drive
A plumber is banned from the road after he was caught driving his van just one metre along a city centre street while nearly three times the legal alcohol limit. Daniel Tarbet, 46, from Scone, was spotted by police coming out of a pub and climbing into his company’s white Ford Transit.
Caught on camera
A Perthshire man’s violent outburst against his teenage girlfriend was caught on camera at an Edinburgh shopping centre.
James Hurrel and his partner ended up at the Gyle retail complex after being turfed out of an underground dance festival at Royal Highland Centre for being too drunk.
Perth Sheriff Court heard how security staff became concerned about 21-year-old Hurrel.
Fiscal depute Andrew Harding said: “A security officer left the control room and went down to where the accused was standing.
“CCTV footage shows the accused throwing an object in the direction of the complainer.
“She walked away and the accused followed.”
Hurrel, of Station Road, admitted acting in a way likely to cause fear or alarm, by behaving in an aggressive manner towards his 18-year-old girlfriend and throwing an unknown object towards her.
Solicitor David Holmes, defending, said: “Mr Hurrel was very intoxicated.
“His partner didn’t want to make any formal complaint against him and refused to engage with police.”
The relationship is now over, the court heard.
Sheriff James Hastie fined Hurrel £335.
Phone footage bid foiled
Coupar Angus man Graham Taylor, who tried to have child sex abuse image charges against him dismissed by claiming police botched their search of his home, has avoided prison. The 55-year-old was caught with nearly 40 minutes of footage on his phone, featuring girls as young as 12.
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