A convicted sex attacker has been given another chance to meet with social workers – nine months after he was originally due to be sentenced.
Ryan Byrne was hauled into custody after a warrant was granted for his arrest at Dundee Sheriff Court.
Former soldier Byrne previously admitted sexually assaulting a teenage woman on Park Place in Dundee in May 2018.
Psychiatric reports were previously ordered in October 2023 but the case has endured numerous delays for various reasons.
Byrne, 44, was again due to meet with a psychiatrist ahead of sentencing on Tuesday, July 16.
However, Byrne, of St Nicholas Place, failed to turn up both for the appointment and his court hearing
A fed-up Sheriff George Way ordered police to apprehend Byrne – who also sparked a firearms incident at his Dundee home in 2020.
Byrne appeared from custody and Sheriff James Williamson deferred sentence until September for a supplementary report from the social work department.
He was released on bail.
Festival assault
A business owner from Fife who seriously injured a man in a brutal assault at the Rewind music festival faces jail. Simon Tierney, 38, attacked Antonio Grant at Scone Palace in Perth on July 22 2023. Tierney repeatedly punched him to the ground, where he continued his attack.
Drugs revenge
A woman attacked another woman outside a shop in Leven for “selling drugs” to a male, said to have been hospitalised as a result.
Lisa Wolosackyj was fined £300 at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court after earlier pleading guilty to the assault to injury outside an Iceland store on the town’s High Street on March 19 this year.
Prosecutor Matthew McPherson told the court the assault victim was walking while on the phone in the afternoon when Wolosackyj approached her and “struck her to the face” without any explanation.
He said the woman reported feeling a blow but was unsure if it was a punch or not.
She suffered a burst lip and bruising to her nose and felt dizzy afterwards, the fiscal said.
Court papers say 34-year-old Wolosackyj, of Kirkland Gardens, Methil, kicked her victim to the face.
Wolosackyj began shouting abuse and making accusations she had been selling drugs.
The victim, who was in shock and had blood coming from her nose and mouth, said she did not know who Wolosackyj was claiming she had sold drugs to.
Defence lawyer David Cranston said Wolosackyj had been told less than a week beforehand a male she knew had been sold and taken the drugs, probably diazepam.
The solicitor said he was “found face down in his own vomit near to Leven beach and rushed to hospital as a result of that”.
When Wolosackyj bumped into the woman she “saw red” and spontaneously carried out the assault, Mr Cranston said.
The lawyer said Wolosackyj previously misused drugs in her teens but now has a “strong anti-drug view”.
He said her rate of offending has reduced with time and she has not offended since 2018 and was last in prison 10 years ago.
Ring sting
A Ring doorbell snared two hapless car thieves who embarked on a brazen raid at a house in Dundee. Kevin O’Donnell and Reece Stewart were chased by the owner of one of the cars as they tried to flee the crime scene in the Ardler area. The disqualified duo are now jailed after they admitted stealing a Ford Focus and Ford Fiesta.
Knife-thrower
A man threw an eight-inch knife in the air when police spotted him banging at a door on Kirkcaldy High Street just before midnight.
Ben Sprunt, 30, appeared at the town’s sheriff court for sentencing after earlier pleading guilty to having a knife without reasonable excuse or lawful authority on July 8 last year.
Prosecutor Matthew McPherson told the court uniformed police officers had been passing some flats and noticed Sprunt banging on a door and holding a large kitchen knife.
He appeared under the influence and was acting erratically.
The fiscal depute said: “As officers approached, he threw the kitchen knife in the air.
“The handle broke off and he picked it up as officers approached.
“However, when they instructed him to drop the knife he did and he was handcuffed.”
Defence lawyer David Cranston acknowledged it was “bizarre behaviour” and the location of the incident is his client’s home address.
He said: “He got himself so drunk he blacked out and only remembers waking up in the police station.”
Sheriff Mark Allan told Sprunt his social work report was very positive and fined him £400.
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