A drunk driver who clattered a cyclist at a Forfar junction has been disqualified from driving.
Samuel Farnan, 26, appeared at the town’s sheriff court to admit driving carelessly while over the limit (40mics/ 22) on January 15 this year and striking the cyclist at the crossroads between West High Street, Dundee Loan, Glamis Road and Craig O’Loch Road.
The cyclist suffered grazing and his bike was damaged.
Nick Markowski, solicitor for Farnan, of Grampian Park in Forfar, said: “He handed himself into the police station within an hour of the incident.”
Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown banned him from driving for a year and fined him a total of £395.
Winner-turned-dealer
A £100,000 scratch card winner turned drug-dealer is behind bars after being caught with high-purity cocaine at his Dundee flat. Jack Tanbini, 28, has been warned a lengthy prison term awaits him after he admitted being concerned in the supply of the Class A drug.
Rapist jailed
Sex attacker Darren Glass, 30, was jailed for eight years as he continued to deny committing the crimes.
Glass, formerly of Lawson Street, Kirkcaldy was convicted after trial of raping both victims at addresses on Fife.
At the High Court in Edinburgh Judge Simon Collins KC said he had read victim impact statements detailing the effects of his crimes, including flashbacks and difficulty sleeping.
He made non-harassment orders banning Glass from contacting or attempting to contact them for 15 years.
Glass attacked and raped a 15-year-old girl on an occasion between November 1 and December 31 in 2021 at a house in Kirkcaldy.
He also raped a woman between April 1 and June 30 in 2021 at a house near Lochgelly, beginning as she slept and continuing after she woke.
He also carried out a further sex attack on her later that year at an address in Glenrothes and later sent her a photo of his penis.
Glass will be on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
Detective Constable Steven Grant said: “Glass is a dangerous individual who now faces the consequences of his despicable actions.
“I would like to commend his victims for their strength in coming forward during the investigation.
“Their information was essential in helping us build the case against him and our thoughts remain with them.
“I hope this outcome provides them with some sense of closure.”
Fire-fuelled feud
A bitter family feud ended in a man’s Dundee home being doused in petrol and set on fire. Blair Anderson admitted targeting his former brother-in-law’s property while he was inside the address, years after threatening violence in a dispute over a separation agreement.
Drinker called police
An Angus sawmill worker found by police in his car while almost five times over the limit had phoned 101 himself.
Marius-Voriel Suicu dialled officers at 9.40 on May 22 this year and told the call handler his name and where he was.
Suspecting he was intoxicated, police were sent to Moonlight Gardens in Arbroath and found him in the driver’s seat.
Suicu complied with a breath test and at West Bell Street HQ, he told officers: “I have a two seater car and I am homeless.”
The 45-year-old admitted being in charge of a vehicle while over the alcohol limit (104 mics/22).
Solicitor Nick Markowski said his client lost his job at a hotel when he missed an early start the next morning due to being at Dundee headquarters.
He had been staying with his cousin but returned from a night out to find himself locked out.
“He’s embarrassed, he accepts it was foolish,” Mr Markowski said.
Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown imposed 10 penalty points and fined Suicu £245 in total.
Courier crash
A former parcel courier has been banned from driving after causing a head-on collision which injured four people in the car he struck in Angus. Iain MacGregor was found guilty of swerving into a Citroen C3 on an unclassified road. The oncoming family, which had stopped on the verge, were all injured.
Pics and voice notes
A Glenrothes man who sent images of a BB gun on WhatsApp to a work colleague and made voice note threats towards his own brother has been given unpaid work.
Gordon Ellis, 32, of Foxton Drive, pled guilty at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner on occasions between October 17 and 19 last year.
He admitted sending the gun images and, by means of voice notes sent to him, uttering threats of violence towards his brother Greg Ellis.
The court heard Ellis initially claimed the pictured weapon was a handgun from America but later said it was a BB gun.
Defence lawyer Kerr Sneddon said the voice notes were “jovial” but his client was stupid to get involved in such conversation.
Sheriff Grant McCulloch said Ellis has a previous conviction which puts the offence in a different context.
“You may think it’s all a joke but it’s a joke that has gone considerably wrong.
“The effect on someone knowing you and your previous conviction – you were part of it and it involves use of a gun – must have been a concern.
“Your brother said he felt threatened.”
Sheriff McCulloch told Ellis to do 250 hours of unpaid work, reduced from 300 due to his early plea.
Business burner
A child rapist torched his Angus motorsport business before changing his mind in a botched suicide attempt. In August, Colin Bandeen was sentenced to almost 12 years in prison for a string of vile sex attacks on children. Before being taken into custody, on July 10 2023, he used petrol to light up the staircase at Bandeen Motorsport at Kirriemuir.
High Court sentences
At the High Court in Inverness on December 5, Lee Mullen, 27, of Kirkcaldy, was given an extended sentence of seven years, from March 12 2024, comprising a custodial term of four years and an extension period of three years.
He was earlier convicted of assault to severe injury, permanent disfigurement and impairment.
At the same court, Emma Scott, 28, from Glenrothes, was sentenced to a 12-month restriction of liberty order, having been convicted of assault to severe in jury and threatening and abusive behaviour in a separate incident.
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