A drug addict who used a power tool to chop up benches at a Perth football park, then told police he needed to keep a fire going “otherwise he would die”, has been jailed.
Serial offender Thomas Devers, 40, was caught on CCTV hacking into wooden benches at Seven Acres Park, home to Letham Football Club.
His acts of vandalism caused £1,700 worth of damage of September 17 in 2023.
He was brought from prison to Perth Sheriff Court to be sentenced to 145 days behind bars by Sheriff Jennifer Bain KC.
The sheriff said: “You have not, since your release from custody, evidenced any stability.
“What is more, your record of offending makes for poor reading and seems to be getting worse.”
Penis piercing
A Perth groundskeeper who pestered a healthcare worker and showed her a photo of his DIY penis piercing was told by a sheriff: “You misread the room, very badly.” David Romeo Bruscaglia’s victim said she feared she was going to be raped when he turned up at her home uninvited and showed her the naked selfie on his phone.
Drug-drive learner
A learner driver out for a lesson with his mum in Perth was four times over the drug- drive limit.
Police pulled over Kyle Stewart, of Tayview in Luncarty, on Perth’s York Place at 10.35am on September 25 2023, concerned he was going over the 20mph limit.
He was driving with a provisional licence, appropriate L-plates and with his mum supervising, but his pupils were described as being “pinpoint” and he failed a drug test.
A blood sample later taken returned a reading over the limit for Delta-9-THC (8.2mics/ 2).
His lawyer Pauline Cullerton said: “He had smoked cannabis the night before. He didn’t realise that could still remain within his system.”
Sheriff Jennifer Bain KC imposed a year’s supervision and banned Stewart, 19, from the road for 62 weeks.
She said: “You were driving a vehicle, albeit with supervision, when you were significantly over the limit.
“That has the potential to endanger not only your own life, but the lives of your mother and other road users.”
Camping convict
A violent prisoner who absconded from Castle Huntly, sparking a nationwide manhunt, was found camping on the west coast of Scotland. Martin Jackson bought himself a tent after disappearing from the open jail in August last year.
Festive folly
A Highland vet was caught over the limit in Angus driving with her mum to the airport just before Christmas.
Latvian national Marija Matvejeva, 33, appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court to admit drink-driving on the A90 near Kirriemuir on December 22 2024.
Matvejeva, who works between Inverness and Ellon, was spotted by static police, swerving, crossing white lines and almost colliding with a grass verge at 6am.
She returned a breath reading of more than triple the limit (73mics/ 22).
Her solicitor Billy Rennie said she had been drinking the night before.
First offender Matvejeva, of Lochalsh Road in Inverness, was banned for a year and fined £355.
Roadworks rage
A furious driver has been banned after he crashed into another van approaching an A90 roadworks lane closure in Angus.
Paul Jessiman was travelling at around 70mph towards roadworks with a 50mph limit.
The convicted drug-dealer – once dubbed the Deliveroo of cannabis cookies – collided with the other van as he pulled into the right-hand lane.
Traffic ground to a halt and Jessiman, 26, was caught on the other vehicle’s dashcam when he got out and aggressively gesticulated, before driving off.
Already on nine points, Jessiman, from Aberdeen, was banned from the road for 11 months.
Bedding breach
Police found a man hiding under a duvet in a house hours after he was granted bail by a sheriff.
Joshua Wingate was bailed on November 25 last year with conditions not to enter a specific address in the Charleston area of Dundee.
However, the 32-year-old flouted the court order after his partner pleaded with him to return.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard Wingate was then found hiding under a duvet after police had been called to the address.
Wingate’s partner claimed a child had accidentally dialled 999, which Sheriff John Rafferty said sounded “far-fetched”.
Solicitor Julita Blazniak said: “The complainer had contacted him and advised there was no food (for children in the house).
“Him being the good person, dropped it off and a child accidentally called 999.”
Wingate, of Inverness, was fined £210 for breaching bail.
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