John Gowans, 87, who injured a pedestrian when he hit the wrong pedal in his automatic car, has been banned from driving for two years.
He was also fined £1,000 after he hit bystander Devibai Jethwa, who was 70 at the time, outside the Apex hotel in Dundee in August 2022.
First offender Gowans, of Seafield Lane, admitted driving his Volkswagen Polo carelessly and seriously injuring Mrs Jethwa.
After hitting Mrs Jethwa, he crashed into a Ford C-Max Zetec parked nearby and was later heard to say “I’m used to a manual” and had put his foot on the accelerator instead of the brake.
Bolt-on offence
A Fife man sent pictures of his penis and a video of himself performing a sex act to people he thought were children, before arranging to meet one of them in Bolton. Graeme Laing, 28, believed he was communicating online with children aged between but in reality, he was speaking to two adults.
‘Knackered’ business
Kirriemuir business owner Robert Park was caught driving his van home after a few pints in the pub after he forgot to switch his headlights on.
At Forfar Sheriff Court, the 38-year-old admitted driving with excess alcohol (61 mics/ 22) on School Wynd, Bank Street and Tannage Brae in Kirriemuir.
Fiscal depute Bill Kermode said police spotted him leaving a car park just before 11pm on April 21 and pulled him over when they noticed his lights were not on.
Representing himself, Park said his decision to drive home – having planned to walk – after “a few pints” was “a moment of madness.”
The self-employed fencer and ground worker said: “I know I’ve done wrong, I regret it.
“It’s kind of knackered my business.”
Sheriff Johnstone fined Park, of Slade Gardens, £320 and disqualified from driving him for a year.
Didn’t count on this
An accountant who hit his partner and left her with blurred vision has been ordered to stay away from her for two years. Rodney Harris, 61, also turned against arresting police, calling them Nazis as they removed him from the house in Broughty Ferry.
Breached Serious Crime Prevention Order
A murder bid drug dealer who breached a strict court order banning him from having a second phone told police the device was for his work in traffic management.
William Wilson was jailed for six years in 2009 for attempted murder and later released on a lifetime licence.
In 2017 he was jailed again, for five years, after being caught with almost almost £200,000 of drugs and a gun in Glasgow, and placed on a Serious Crime Prevention Order.
The 42-year-old was caught staying with his partner at her address in Dunfermline, two months after being released from HMP Castle Huntly, despite his registered address being with his mother in Glasgow.
Wilson, a prisoner at Barlinnie, admitted breaching the Serious Crime Prevention Order by failing to notify police of his address on various occasions between November 7 and December 8, 2022.
He further admitted breaching the order by possessing a second phone and sim card, despite the order only allowing one of each.
Solicitor Cameron Murdoch, defending, said Wilson was living with his partner to support her after a bereavement.
He added the work phone – for emails and sat-nav – was normally left in the vehicle but Wilson had inadvertently taken it into the house.
Sheriff Alistair Brown said he considered Wilson supporting his partner following the bereavement to be “substantial mitigation” but warned failure to comply in future could see him serving repeated custodial sentences.
He sentenced Wilson to four months in prison, backdated to December.
Dancefloor groper
A Perth clubber has been placed on the Sex Offenders Register for groping a woman at a city centre nightspot. Lewis Macleod pled guilty to a sexual assault at The Loft on South Street.
Drugs charges
Stephanie Guiry, 27, of Loch Street, Dunfermline pled guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine, LSD, cannabis resin and 2C-B in Inverkeithing and an address in Dunfermline between February and December 2020.
She will be sentenced at a later date.
Co-accused Blake Lea Priestley, 30, of Cluny Park, Cardenden pled not guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine, cannabis, ketamine, methylenedioxymethylamphetamine and tetrahydrocannabinol and driving without insurance on North Road, Inverkeithing on November 11 2020.
He will stand trial in July.
For the latest court cases across Tayside and Fife, join our Courts Facebook page.
