COURT ROUND-UP: Racism, fraud, a gang attack and a dog starved to death among last month's Inverness court business
Inverness Sheriff Court saw a huge mix of criminal business in September.
Here's our recap of some of the cases that made the headlines last month.
A teenager who secretly bought a motor cycle against his mother's wishes drove at speeds of up to 150mph to avoid detection – by the police.
Ethan Schiller, now aged 20, who now suffers from an eyesight disorder preventing him from driving, asked his girlfriend to purchase the Yamaha for him but not to tell his mother who disapproved of motorcycles.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that the bike was registered in his girlfriend's name and she gave him permission to drive it on September 3, 2022 but he didn't insure it.
A dentist was warned she would be jailed if she was ever back in court on her fourth drink-driving related offence.
Mother-of-two Samantha Mackay, of Castlehill Gardens, Inverness appeared before Sheriff Gary Aitken to admit being drunk in charge of her vehicle on December 29, 2022.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told that Mackay (47) had two previous convictions in 2009 and 2012 for drink-driving – one which involved her drinking a bottle of wine in her car.
A malfunctioning light led police to arrest a man on suspicion of dealing drugs.
When an officer stopped a car driven by 30-year-old Essex man Antoni Anastas, in Dunabban Road, in Inverness, he was so nervous and uneasy that more officers were called in to search it under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
Procurator fiscal Alison Young told Sheriff David Harvie that Anastas had £520 and scales with white powder in the central console.
A man who starved a dog to death in a Nairn property after it was abandoned by him has been given a lifetime ban from ever keeping an animal.
But 24-year-old Brian Farmer avoided a jail sentence after Sheriff Ian Cruickshank read a background report, heard from defence solicitor David Patterson and changed his mind about custody which he said was his first thought.
Instead he ordered Farmer to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work.
A Polish man attending a charity event at an Inverness retail park was racially abused and pursued by a teenager wielding a baseball bat.
The incident happened on June 25, in Glendoe Terrace, when 18-year-old Joshua Reilly, of Assynt Road, Inverness approached the man.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told that Reilly swore at his victim and said he was "going to get a bat and put it through the windscreen of his vehicle," according to fiscal depute Adele Gray.
A businessman who stole over £110,000 worth of plant machinery from his father-in-law's peat excavation company yard almost five years ago has been jailed for 21 months.
The incident happened in August 2018 when 51-year-old Alexander Ferguson, now of Broad Street, Glasgow broke into the Moy Moss compound near Dalmagarry, with others, and removed several items of heavy machinery.
He was a former business associate of a well-known Inverness entrepreneur Brian MacGregor whose property it was and married his daughter before they fell out.
A Nairn man who attacked the bar manager of a popular Inverness pub has been ordered to pay his victim £500 in compensation.
Ryan McFarlane (28), of Bridge Street, who admitted the assault and threatening behaviour, was also fined a total of £2375 at Inverness Sheriff Court.
The incident occurred in the King's Highway, in Church Street, on September 6 last year when McFarlane was refused service because of his intoxication.
A woman who conned her family in a £35,000 bogus Hollywood actress fraud has been told to pay back the cash.
Ann Dunlop (68), claimed a woman she knew was being lined up for million-pound contracts.
Dunlop convinced brother David Bunton (51) to hand the woman cash to help her make the breakthrough.
A barmaid was struck in the face with a bottle wielded by a drunk customer outside a Grantown bar earlier this year.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that 36 year old Samantha Hay had been asked to leave the Claymore Bar twice on March 17 after consuming seven pints of cider.
But when words were exchanged between the pair outside the premises, Hay, of Cawdor Terrace, Nairn hit her on the face, causing swelling and a slight cut to her head.
A 22-year-old man who got drunk at an Inverness nightspot and violently assaulted another man has avoided a jail sentence.
Matthew McLane, of Third Avenue, Teignmouth in Devon but originally from Inverness, had been found guilty of assaulting his victim to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement in the Botanic House, Castle Street, Inverness on February 12, 2022.
The jury heard that the two men had a confrontation and McLane punched him on the head, and when he fell to the ground, he straddled him then repeatedly punched him until he was unconscious.
A 44-year-old Highland man attacked his pensioner mother and damaged his 91-year-old grandmother's home during a four-hour stand-off with armed police earlier this year.
When John McDonald -who was living in homeless accommodation in Inverness - appeared by video link from remand at Inverness Sheriff Court, he admitted two assaults, malicious damage, a breach of his bail and threatening or abusive behaviour.
Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald was told by defence solicitor John McColl that McDonald's mother had written a letter to the court which was "eloquent, of forgiveness and support."
A thug who was part of a masked gang who stole more than £40,000 from the home of a terrified Highland family was jailed today (Wednesday) for five years and seven months.
Kyle Rossiter (23) was one of up to six raiders who burst into the bungalow near Beauly on October 19, 2020.
A man and his wife – both aged 59 – along with other family members were there at time.
A Nigerian security guard at an Inverness supermarket was subjected to racial abuse by a drunk customer who wanted to buy whisky.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told that landscaper John MacPhee (52), of St Valery Avenue, Inverness, had gone into the Tesco Metro in Tomnahurich Street on February 24 and asked the member of staff where the whisky was being kept.
But he became loud and was staggering about with another employee and he was told he would not be sold alcohol because he was intoxicated, procurator fiscal Sharon Ralph told the court.
