A man has appeared in court in connection with an alleged raid on a Perth shop.
Robert McLoughlin is accused of assault and attempted robbery at the Scotmid Co-op in the city’s West Mains Avenue.
Police were scrambled to the store on Wednesday morning, following reports of an alleged incident.
Oakbank Primary School was shutdown as a precaution.
McLoughlin, 40, appeared on petition at Perth Sheriff Court on Thursday afternoon.
He made no plea and was remanded in custody.
McLoughlin, from Perth, is expected to make a follow-up appearance at the same court next week.
Pool ball assault
A rowdy festive drinker who attacked bar staff and peppered them with pool balls has been placed under social work supervision for a year.
Louise Orrock, 28, was part of a raucous group of drinkers who were asked to leave the Gaiety Bar in Dundee on December 18 2021.
Orrock attacked a male and a female member of staff, before hurling pool balls at them as they cowered behind the bar.
She admitted assaulting one by grabbing her face, pushing her and punching her on the head to her injury.
She admitted attacking the other by striking him with a pool ball and chair, as well as throwing glasses at him and striking him with them.
Orrock, from Dundee, admitted acting in a culpable and reckless manner by throwing pool balls to the danger of patrons in a public bar.
Fiscal depute Lynn Mannion told Dundee Sheriff Court Orrock was playing pool and threw the cue to the floor, before hurling the contents of a glass at the male staff member and then throwing it at him.
“She picked up several more glasses and threw them at him, with several making contact.
“The group left but she returned.
“She picked up two pool balls and threw them and he had to use his hand to deflect them.
“She threw a chair and he had to take evasive action.”
The court was told the accused assaulted the barmaid when she tried to intervene and other patrons had to step in to remove Orrock from the bar.
Fireworks fan banned
A drunken Caley Thistle fan who fought with police and tried to smuggle fireworks into McDiarmid Park has been handed a year-long football ban.
Cody Craig travelled from Inverness to Perth for last year’s Scottish Premiership play-offs.
He was searched by police who found two pyrotechnics tucked into his trousers.
The 18-year-old appeared at Perth Sheriff Court and admitted assaulting a female police officer, behaving in a threatening or abusive way and trying to take banned items into a football game on May 23 2022.
Sheriff David Hall called him an “absolute disgrace” to his club and said pyrotechnics were “the scourge of Scottish football”.
£25k cannabis farm on wheels
A delivery driver who converted his van into a cannabis farm and grew a crop worth more than £25,000 has been given a community disposal.
Scott Downie grew cannabis in his van and lock-up garage but was using so much electricity the huge bills attracted the owner’s attention.
Dundee Sheriff Court was told cannabis with a potential street value of £25,800 and ecstasy worth £660 was recovered during a raid on the lock-up.
Sheriff Alistair Carmichael placed Downie under social work supervision for 18 months, on a restriction of liberty order for four months and ordered him to carry out 180 hours unpaid work.
The court heard Downie was caught when the owner of the rented garage noticed the unit was racking up huge electricity bills for a storage space.
Fiscal depute Lynn Mannion told the court: “The light was constantly illuminated and the electricity usage was exceptionally high.
“Due to his increasing suspicion he got access and saw what he believed to be a cannabis cultivation in the vehicle and throughout the unit.
“He took photos on his mobile phone and contacted police.”
He was found with over £1,000 cash in his jeans pocket, and officers recovered 219 ecstasy tablets and 32 cannabis plants in his Vauxhall Vivaro.
They also found some harvested cannabis, along with a further 11 mature plants and 32 seedlings, spread throughout the garage.
Downie, 48, from Aberdeen, admitted being concerned in the supply of cannabis between May 7 and July 7 2020, and of ecstasy on July 5.
He also admitted having a bullet cartridge when the lock-up near Forfar was raided.
Scarred after dance floor attack
A reveller who left a stranger scarred for life after a dance floor bust-up has been ordered to pay his victim £1,500 compensation.
Terry Massie smashed a glass in the face of his victim after clashing on the dance floor at a festive event in Dundee’s Fort Hotel.
Fiscal depute Lynn Mannion told Dundee Sheriff Court the man was dancing when Massie walked through the throng as if to leave the venue.
As he stepped backwards, Massie pushed the man, causing him to stumble and ask why he had shoved him.
She said: “The accused punched out with his right hand in the direction of the complainer’s head while still holding a glass tumbler.
“He struck him on the head and the glass immediately shattered.
“The accused managed to slip away from door staff but they caught up with him a short distance away.”
Machinist Massie, from Dundee, admitted the December 18 2021 assault, which caused injury and permanent disfigurement – a scar on the victim’s forehead.
Woman accused of neglecting baby
A 22-year-old woman has appeared in court accused of wilfully neglecting a baby by allowing him to sustain broken bones.
Lidia Zekic-Garbaciak appeared in private at Dundee Sheriff Court to face a petition relating to non-accidental injury to a child.
The petition alleges she wilfully neglected the seven-month-old baby while he was in her care at an address in Dundee between July 9 and September 21, 2020.
It is alleged she exposed him to unnecessary suffering or injury to his health “by allowing him to sustain serious non-accidental injuries including fractures to limbs.”
The charge further alleges that she was “unable or unwilling to provide any explanation for the injuries.”
Zekic-Garbaciak, Hilltown Court, Dundee, faces a second charge alleging she assaulted the baby between 9 July and 12 September 2020. The charge alleges that on two occasions she shook him by the body and dropped him on a sofa.
She made no plea and was granted bail while the case was continued for further examination.
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