Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court was briefly convened in the building’s cells because an accused was too soiled to be brought into the dock.
Sheriff Derek Reekie initially enquired if the court seating could be protected by plastic bags before moving proceedings to the cells.
There, Gordon Hay, 65, admitted breaching a non-harassment order by contacting a woman at Leven bus station on November 12.
Fiscal depute Aimee Mason told the court the woman was with another person when contacted by the accused and they arranged to meet at 1.45pm.
Hay, of Bethune Way, Buckhaven, had sentenced deferred and was placed on supervised bail.
Laughing gas chase
A banned Montrose driver inhaled from a balloon of laughing gas while behind the wheel at a McDonald’s drive-thru. Police approached Thomas Forrest, 24, at the McDonald’s in Raploch, Stirling, but he took off in the Mercedes C-class “at such speed that it left the ground” going over a speedbump.
‘Utter balderdash’
Fife pensioner Janet Heeps was cleared of “stabbing” her neighbour’s door with a kitchen knife but convicted of acting aggressively over a letter she received in a bitter neighbour dispute.
Heeps, 79, was accused of turning up at Ian Reid’s Carnock home with what he claimed was a seven-inch blade on February 17 last year.
He said he had earlier that evening posted a letter to his next-door neighbour reminding her husband to move some bricks on his property, being used to support a fence – an ongoing matter.
The 78-year-old said Heeps came to his door in Hawthorn Bank at around 7pm.
“She basically started a tirade, saying ‘I thought this was all over’ and before you could blink there was a kitchen knife pointed at me.”
He said he would call the police but Heeps stayed there, shouting, then “physically stabbing the door with the knife” with “venom”.
Defence lawyer Shona Westwood suggested to Heeps had come to his door and asked him calmly what the letter was about and the “knife” was actually a silver torch, which she used to knock on his door.
Mr Reid replied: “Utter balderdash, I know what a knife looks like, it was shiny, sharp and pointing at me”.
Another neighbour told the trial she saw Heeps “hammering” on Mr Reid’s door and then shouting through the letterbox, staying for about 20 to 25 minutes “shouting and bawling” but she made no mention of seeing a knife.
Defence lawyer Ms Westwood made submission there was no corroboration Heeps had a blade and the Crown withdrew the allegation of being unlawfully in possession of a knife and vandalising the door with it.
However, Heeps was convicted of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
Ms Westwood said her client has no previous convictions, is severely unwell and can only leave the house with the assistance of paramedics. She was admonished.
Stole £9,999
An Angus support worker who used her vulnerable client’s bank card to steal almost £10,000 from ATMs has been told her offending would “ordinarily attract” imprisonment. But Quenta Duguid was narrowly spared jail time after she admitted making unauthorised withdrawals totalling £9,999 over a nine-month period.
Cocaine driving ban
A drug-driving Kirriemuir mum has been banned from the road after being caught on the A90 almost eight times over the limit for a cocaine metabolite.
Ashleigh Day appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court to admit driving on the busy dual carriageway near Moatmill while unfit through drink or drugs on July 5 this year.
Fiscal depute Charmaine Gilmartin said: “She was traced by police at the side of the road with four young children.”
Day, 29, was described as barely being able to keep her eyes open.
Mrs Gilmartin said a sample was over the benzoylecgonine limit (397mics/50).
Solicitor John Boyle said his client had sought drug rehab assistance.
“Her licence is already revoked due to medical issues.
“She’s not driving and will not be driving for a considerable period of time.”
Day, of Hillrise in Kirriemuir, was fined £320 in total and banned from driving for a year.
Chip shop rammy
Ewan Grant and Tyler Cheape have been jailed for a “vicious and sustained” assault at a Perth chip shop, which left one member of staff slumped unconscious in a doorway. A second employee had his head slammed against a pizza oven during the booze-fuelled rammy at Watson’s takeaway.
Festive woe
A woman who tried to smuggle a Kinder Egg full of contraband into Perth Prison has been placed on a curfew.
Yasmine Joual was caught attempting to pass on a stash of tobacco and SIM cards to inmate Sean Noble on August 28 last year.
Perth Sheriff Court heard the 24-year-old, of Mackie Place, Dunfermline, hid the plastic egg container inside her trousers.
As a direct alternative to custody, Sheriff William Wood place Joual on supervision for 12 months and she must stay home for 20 weeks between 8pm and 8am as part of a restriction of liberty order.
He said: “That won’t be an easy option for you – you will have to stay at home while people are out celebrating Christmas and new year.”
Flipped van
A motorist who flipped his van at a busy A92 roundabout in Fife had blacked out at the wheel. Members of the public had to smash Daniel Durie’s windscreen to rescue him after he hit queueing traffic in April.
Fatal accident findings
A Perthshire machine operator suffered fatal injuries after being caught in a log cutting machine, a sheriff has ruled.
Andrew Sinclair, 61, had his right arm stuck within the moving parts of the device at DK Logs near Aberfeldy, in September 2022.
A fatal accident inquiry was held in Dundee and Sheriff Timothy Niven-Smith has ruled Mr Sinclair wrongly jammed the machine, which meant it kept operating when he was caught in it.
His cause of death was recorded as blunt force arm and neck injuries and entrapment by the machine.
The sheriff said Mr Sinclair had failed to follow operating procedures by “jamming” an operating lever in the forward position.
He said: “I cannot speculate why Mr Sinclair ‘jammed’ the hold to run controls and left the control panel. I can only conclude based on the evidence that Mr Sinclair did do that.”
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