A sheriff has ordered the Crown Office and procurator fiscal service in Dundee to provide written reasons as to why a convicted stalker who was on a bail curfew was told by a police officer the curfew had been lifted.
As a result of the information given by the officer, John Cabrelli was acquitted of a charge of breaching the terms of a bail order by being in a city pub when he should have been at home.
Cabrelli, 55, was, however, convicted of a similar offence committed on another date and Sheriff Charles Macnair sentenced him to 200 hours of unpaid work in the community on Wednesday.
Following the sentencing, he said: “I want the Crown to investigate and I want a written report from the Crown. This was a court order which was imposed and the police officer should not have told Mr Cabrelli what she did.
“It was wholly wrong and I want to know how that came about. If it was a system failure then we need to take steps to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”
Sheriff Macnair was speaking at the sentencing diet for Cabrelli on the breach of bail charge, which followed a previous offence of threatening to destroy his ex-partner’s life and wrongly telling her employers she was a drug user.
Cabrelli originally faced two charges over a stalking campaign against Ashley McCann and Frances Carroll, both from Dundee.
After a plea bargain, the charge involving Frances was dropped, while that involving 39-year-old Ashley was lowered to abusive and threatening behaviour.
He had been placed on a two-year community payback order by Sheriff Elizabeth Munro in July last year for that offence.
In yesterday’s case Cabrelli, of Muirfield Road, Dundee, had been found guilty by a jury last month of breaching a bail order, that said he must remain within his home from 9pm to 6am, by visiting a Broughty Ferry pub on July 12 2013.
However, the jury acquitted him of another charge after PC Rachel Rawnsley had given evidence to the court that she had told Cabrelli the curfew had been lifted, which she took from a police computer.
During the trial, she confirmed she had supplied written confirmation of that.
Yesterday Sheriff Macnair said there was enough evidence for the jury to convict Cabrelli of another charge of breaching the bail order on a separate date.
Solicitor Ross Bennett told the court Cabrelli had lost his job and had undergone severe stress for more than two years and felt he had suffered “an injustice” in relation to the original charges.
A spokesperson for the police said last night: “We will cooperate with the Crown who are investigating this matter.”
A spokesperson for the Crown and Procurator Fiscal Service said: “We note the comments of the sheriff.
“The procurator fiscal will assist in ensuring that the information required of Police Scotland is provided to the court.
“It would be inappropriate for us to comment further.”