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View Full Version : Cases from today's sheriff court session



Nwicker60
24-Nov-11, 19:51
‘Poodles’ leapt out at passing driver--witnesses allege

A SHERIFF, who heard conflicting accounts of an alleged dangerous driving incident, declared that he was not satisfied beyond all doubt, that the motorist was guilty.
The charge to which Damon Mackay (20) of Portormin Road, Dunbeath, pleaded not guilty, was found not proven, after a trial.
Wick Sheriff Court previously heard a dramatic account No 1 from Alexander ‘Poodles’ MacAlpine and a friend, Donna Macphee, who described how they had left a house in Murchison on April 30th and were waiting by a car for the person who was to give them a lift.
They both told of how they heard the sound of a car revving and looked round to see it speeding towards Mr MacAlpine who was standing on the road next to the passenger side of the vehicle in which he was to get a lift. He told the court that he had just time to open the door and jump in.
Mr MacAlpine said he was in no doubt that the car and the driver he identified Mackay as the driver who had been deliberately attempting to hit him. Had that happened, he told the court, his two legs would have been broken, at best, and at worst he would have been killed.
Miss Macphee corroborated Mr MacAlpine’s account of the incident and added that he “went white” and was "shaking".
However, Mackay’s mother, Fiona Mackay, gave the court a different version. She told the court, today, that she watched her son driving away, normally from her house. He had been visiting her to help with some decorating, along with relatives.
Mrs Mackay, and the two other decorators, Robert Barnetson and his brother Christopher, said that Mr MacAlpine deliberately jumped out from between two cars, throwing his hands into the air and forcing Mackay to swerve, to avoid hitting him-before jumping back, again.
Sheriff Andrew Berry said that despite the best evidence of the senior fiscal depute, the court had not been able to get at the truth of the matter, and he was not satisfied, beyond reasonable doubt, that Mackay was guilty and accordingly found the charge against him not proven.

Thurso man cleared of charge

A charge of threatening or abusive behaviour against Leslie Bremner, of Ormlie Drive, Thurso, resulted in a verdict of not guilty following a trial.
Bremner (43) had denied the allegation. He was alleged to have clenched his fist, made towards his ex-wife, Katrina Powell, in an aggressive manner, at his then home in Ravenshill Road, Thurso, on August 20. She had visited him at his request to discuss family business.
After hearing evidence, Sheriff Berry said that having heard the evidence, he was satisfied that Bremner’s behaviour did not constitute a contravention of the legislation.