A sheriff scolded a couple who appeared as the accused and the chief Crown witness at a trial.
Darren Gibb, 22, Finlow Terrace, Dundee, denied behaving in a threatening and abusive manner likely to cause fear or alarm by engaging in a verbal argument, shouting and swearing at an address in Killin Avenue on November 18.
The court heard Gibb had turned up in the early hours at his girlfriend Chelsea Taylor’s home and an argument began after she realised he was drunk. Both had been shouting and Ms Taylor called the police after Gibb refused to leave.
“I told the police I wanted him to go his mum’s,” she said.
Asked if she had told the police he had done anything wrong, she said no. After she had given evidence, Sheriff Alastair Brown instructed her to remain in court while the trial continued.
After hearing from a police witness he found Gibb not guilty and then told the couple: “The pair of you listen to me the police are employed at public expense for the public benefit in order to investigate crime. Having an argument is not a crime.
“Wanting him to go to his mum’s home is not itself sufficient reason to call the police. You were carrying on like a pair of six-year-olds.”
Gibb had previously admitted breaching bail twice while awaiting trial by seeing his girlfriend at her home.
The sheriff told Gibb he would have been entitled to send him to prison for the bail offences but instead ordered him to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.