A dachshund allegedly attacked and injured a three-year-old girl at a motorhome dealership in Perth.
The youngster was said to have been hurt by the dog while visiting Dicksons of Perth, Dunkeld Road, on March 9 last year.
Company boss Christopher Dickson is accused of being the owner of the dog when it was “dangerously out of control”.
Court papers allege the animal was unsupervised, untethered and unmuzzled when it lunged towards the girl and repeatedly bit her on the head.
Dickson, 37, was not at court when his case called.
Sheriff William Wood continued to a fresh intermediate hearing on January 30.
‘Unspeakable’ crimes
An embezzler who left a Fife kids club charity in “financial crisis” and stole more than £80,000 from a local coffee firm is behind bars. Beverley Bennie previously admitted pocketing £83,599.93 in total from Myrtle Coffee and £12,771.69 from Kids Come First in crimes branded “unspeakable” by the sheriff..
Bomb threats
A newly-released prisoner who terrorised bank staff before making bomb threats at a hotel is back in custody.
Frank Wakefield alarmed staff at the Virgin Money bank on Dundee’s Reform Street on January 9, two days after he was released from HMP Perth.
Wakefield appeared from custody at Dundee Sheriff Court on January 10 and was again freed on bail.
However, he turned his attention to staff at the city centre Travelodge the next day and threatened to detonate a bomb.
The 36-year-old admitted repeatedly shouting, swearing, trying to enter rooms and offices and making menacing remarks at the bank on January 9 as well as behaving abusively towards police who arrested him.
On January 11, Wakefield walked around the Travelodge, shouted, acted aggressively and made sexually violent threats towards police.
He repeatedly stated he had a bomb and threatened to detonate the bomb.
Wakefield, who has no fixed abode, also admitted spitting while at police headquarters on West Bell Street.
Solicitor Mike Short detailed the extent of Wakefield’s mental health issues but said his client was assessed as being fit to plea.
Wakefield, who has been in and out of prison since September 2024, was supposed to be seen by a psychiatrist in HMP Perth but Mr Short said no appointment had been fulfilled.
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael deferred sentence until February for an assessment to be carried out and a social work report prepared.
He told Wakefield, originally from the Leicester area: “I do acknowledge your difficulties and I understand that they are not all your own making but I am refusing bail because if I do grant bail, there would be a significant risk that you would commit crime and pose a danger to the public.”
Double sting
A Brechin paedophile was caught in simultaneous stings by undercover police posing as children. Scott Strachan admitted trying to communicate indecently with the decoys of a 14-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy.
Menopause blamed
Menopause was blamed for a woman’s attack on a Dundee front door with a knife and baseball bat.
Amanda Chivers’ solicitor said her violent behaviour was partly due to the fact she was not being prescribed hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
Dundee Sheriff Court heard Chivers became enraged after being the victim of an attack herself and losing a front tooth.
Police were called to Corso Street on November 21 to deal with Chivers, who handed over the knife and “half wooden” bat to officers.
Fiscal depute Alan Bell said: “They observed damage to the door and witnesses stated that the accused was stabbing the front door with a knife and hitting it with the wooden bat.”
Chivers, of St Peter Street, challenged the occupants to a fight and threatened to kill people.
Mr Bell added: “Most of the residents in the close were elderly and were shaken-up by the incident.”
Solicitor Jim Caird told the court: “She has mental health problems and was struggling at the time because of the effects of menopause.
“Her previous doctor refused to put her on HRT because of other medication she was on but she is now on that. Her behaviour was quite erratic.
“She’s absolutely ashamed of her behaviour.
“She was assaulted by the female complainer who punched her on the face and made her front tooth wobbly to the extent that front tooth was lost.”
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael placed Chivers, 50, on a high-tariff structured deferred sentence for three months.
Waga-drama
A thief brought chaos to Dundee city centre restaurant Wagamama when a chef caught him stealing purses from the staff room. Ryan Wilson pulled the man’s hair and violently struggled with him after he was confronted.
Police siege
A 39-year-old man brandished a knife and a pipe at the windows of his Dunfermline flat during a near seven-hour standoff with police.
Gavin Williams appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court to plead guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner at the ground floor property in Gilfillan Road, Touch, on November 20 2023.
Williams, now of Station Road, Thankerton, near Biggar, admitted brandishing a knife at police officers, repeatedly making abusive and threatening remarks towards them and brandishing a pipe.
Prosecutor Sarah Smith told the court police received a call at 6.18pm from Williams’ aunt over concerns for his mental health.
Officers went to the front door and tried to engage and saw him through the kitchen window consuming an unknown quantity of tablets from a blister pack, the fiscal said.
They then saw him holding a knife with a blade of about eight inches – taken from a drawer – and brandishing it at the window to them.
Police tried to speak with him through the letterbox and Williams said: “See what you get if you come any closer”.
Ms Smith said Williams continued to shout and brandished a “pipe” at the rear window.
He then turned off the lights and refused to engage further.
The fiscal depute said Williams was brought out of the property with the help of a negotiator at 1.02am.
A defence lawyer said Williams’ personal circumstances are now better and Sheriff Susan Duff set a sentencing hearing at Dunfermline Sheriff Court for February 12 after obtain background reports are prepared.
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