INVERNESS SHERIFF COURT ROUND-UP: Brutal attack, pervert and rapist among last month's court business
Inverness Sheriff Court saw a huge mix of criminal business in February.
Here's our recap of some of the cases that made the headlines last month.
Two men who carjacked a well known Inverness businessman in "a disgusting and brutal attack" were sentenced to 54 months each in custody.
Calum Ross and Matthew Bell appeared before Sheriff Sara Matheson by video link for the assault on chocolatier Lucas Story at the city's Sheriff Court and she told both: "These offences are of the utmost seriousness.”
Police were locked in a 30-hour cat and mouse hunt for an Aberdeen teenager who persistently drove dangerously in Inverness and Moray and endangered the lives of police officers and a member of the public by driving at speed towards them.
The 17-year-old, who was 16 at the time of the offences on March 10 and 11 last year, cannot be named for legal reasons but he admitted at Inverness Sheriff Court three charges of driving dangerously and two of assault to danger of life.
Five teenage women and a girl were pestered over a four-year period by a Nairn sex pest who demanded nude photos and sent explicit images to them uninvited.
In the dock at Inverness Sheriff Court was 28-year-old Codey Masson, of Ord View Brae, who had a previous conviction for a similar type sex offence committed during the same time frame of between August 2015 and August 2019
A teenager went on an armed robbery rampage in Inverness last summer wielding a baseball bat, a hammer and a screwdriver to threaten four of his victims.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that Daniel Krogulek, whose address was given as Inverness Prison, was 19 when he committed three of his offences, with another three carried out days after his 20th birthday on August 2 last year.
• READ MORE: Inverness youth’s crime spree saw him wield a baseball bat, hammer and screwdriver
A bus passenger who terrified a woman on a journey through Inverness by staring at her while drawing his finger across his neck as if to suggest he was cutting her throat has been jailed.
Brian Robertson was appearing by video link at Inverness Sheriff Court after previously admitting charges of threatening behaviour, assault to injury and refusing to give his personal details to police when required to do so.
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• READ MORE: Inverness bus passenger who terrified woman with throat-cutting gesture is jailed
A neighbour from hell who threatened to kill his neighbours and hinted at having a shotgun has been jailed for two months.
Former police constable Donald Bain, of Inverness, appeared for sentence at Inverness Sheriff Court and was told by Sheriff Gordon Lamont: "The court's patience is at an end. I note your similar previous convictions over a period of years which must have been deeply upsetting for your neighbours."
• READ MORE: Former police constable jailed after threatening to kill policewoman
Police were called out on New Year's Eve to a car having collided with a roundabout in Culduthel Road and discovered a drink-driver at the wheel.
Dawid Sienkowski, of Evan Barron Road, Inverness smelt of alcohol and tested positive in the early hours of Hogmanay 2023 with a reading of 83mcgs when the legal limit is 22mcgs.
• READ MORE: Inverness Hogmanay drink-driver caught after collision at roundabout
A knife-wielding intruder who subjected a family to a terrifying ordeal in their Inverness flat has been jailed for 30 months.
Sheriff Sara Matheson also ordered 22 year old Ellis Williams to be supervised by social workers for a further year after his release from prison "to protect the public", she told Inverness Sheriff Court.
An off-duty nurse was struck on the head while helping an injured man lying in Inverness High Street.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that Daniel Bryant (32) assaulted the female nurse who had been cycling through the city centre and had stopped to assist the casualty just after midnight on April 5 last year.
• READ MORE: Inverness nurse assaulted while tending to injured man
A brutal rapist who throttled women during a campaign of crime that spanned more than three decades has been warned he could face a life sentence.
Bruce Buchanan subjected one woman to rape three times, including during a violent attack where he squeezed her throat and forced his hand into her mouth.
The strong smell of cannabis led to neighbours complaining to police about the stench and led officers to catch an Inverness man who had a stash of drugs.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that a raid was carried out by police on 28-year-old Ryan Anderson's house in Esk Road, Inverness on May 21, 2023 and he invited them in.
• READ MORE: Inverness drug-dealer caught after neighbours told police about cannabis smell
A 39-year-old man has appeared in private at Inverness Sheriff Court in connection with an incident in Smithton which required streets to be cordoned off and the attendance of a large police presence, several vehicles and the Armed Response Unit last Monday.
Emergency services were called to reports of an individual with a blunt weapon causing a disturbance in the Smithton Park area at around 11.35am.
• READ MORE: Inverness police stand-off ends in arrest and court appearance for man
A 61-year-old Inverness man was caught communicating sexually with what he thought was a 12-year-old girl but it was in actual fact an undercover police officer.
Sheriff Gary Aitken was told it was the third time that Calum Thomson, of Bruce Gardens, had been arrested for a similar offence and that he had twice participated in a sex offenders’ programme intended to stop this perverted behaviour.
Over 2000 images of child abuse were found on an Inverness man's mobile phone after police received intelligence and obtained a warrant to search his personal property.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that on March 11 last year, officers tracked down 28-year-old Connor Goodall, of Warrand Road, to his work and subsequent analysis of his device revealed the obscene material.
• READ MORE: Inverness man’s mobile phone had thousands of images of child abuse discovered by police
