COURT ROUND-UP: Assaults, drink-driving and robbery among last month's Inverness court business
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Inverness Sheriff Court saw a huge mix of criminal business in August.
Here's our recap of some of the cases that made the headlines last month.
A woman who crashed a car into an Inverness building injuring three men has been told to expect at least four years behind bars when she is sentenced.
Donna Stewart (46) had originally faced three counts of attempted murder for the 2021 incident but agreed a plea bargain to lesser charges.
The charges of attempted murder of her three passengers were dropped and she instead pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving while intoxicated.
A man is to stand trial charged with raping a 15-year-old girl in Inverness.
Lee Murray (52) is also accused of sending the same girl naked photos of himself.
And he faces further claims that he was caught having indecent online chats with a woman posing as a young girl.
A sheriff backed the view that a driver blacked out moments before causing a collision in Nairn.
The case against Christina Cameron (75), of Osprey Crescent, Nairn revolved around whether or not she lost consciousness or attention as she negotiated the junction between the town's Thurlow Road and Seafield Street on January 21, 2021.
She was accused of causing death by careless driving, but after hearing four days of evidence, Sheriff Ian Cruickshank found her not guilty.
A thug has admitted being part of a masked gang who stole more than £40,000 from the home of a terrified family.
Kyle Rossiter (23) was one of up to six raiders who burst into the bungalow near Beauly on October 19, 2020.
The mob demanded to know the whereabouts of another relative, who apparently owed £90,000. They mistakenly thought he lived there.
A teenager who attacked a passing cyclist and robbed him of his mobile phone has been sent to detention for 16 months.
Calum Ross (18), described as a detainee at Polmont YOI as he is currently serving a sentence, appeared by video link at Inverness Sheriff Court after previously admitting a charge of assault to injury and robbery.
A 40-year-old Inverness woman who unlawfully obtained benefits totalling over £10,000 has been given another six months to repay the money or be jailed.
Sentence had previously been deferred for a year for Laura Frost, of Rosehaugh Road, to continue repaying the cash but Sheriff Sara Matheson was told that she had failed to make restitution in that time.
She had admitted fraudulently receiving £6004.25 of income support and £4255.15 in housing benefit between April 24, 2018 and September 22, 2019.
A student was thrown off of his joinery course with only months left after he drunkenly attacked two people on the Inverness Campus.
Arron Mackinnon, formerly from Portree but now living at Robert Street, Buckie appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court and pleaded guilty to punching one man and throwing a bottle at another on May 31, last year.
Sheriff David Nicholson was told by fiscal depute Adele Gray that the 20-year-old had been at a party at one of the accommodation blocks but was taken away due to him becoming agitated.
A Fort George-based soldier on a night out in Inverness with friends assaulted three door stewards after the group had been asked to leave a city centre bar.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told that 20-year-old Joel Cooney, from Dumfries, was in Revolution, in Church Street, in the early hours of July 2 last year.
Fiscal depute David Morton said: "One of the door stewards indicated that he and a friend would be required to leave because they were being difficult with other customers.
A deputy head teacher put on the sex offenders' register after he was caught with a "disturbing" collection of photographs of pupils is appealing against his conviction.
Police officers found nearly 2500 images of primary school children – many topless – on devices belonging to Alan Burns.
A court heard he admitted he enjoyed watching youngsters perform the "fireman's lift".
The son of an Inverness businessman who attacked his father in a city centre restaurant has been jailed for a total of 96 days.
Mohamed Ahmed (23) of Ladies Walk, Inverness, works for his father at another restaurant but he turned up drunk at the Shapla in Castle Road on the night of July 23 this year.
Fiscal depute Victoria Silver told Inverness Sheriff Court that Ahmed was asked to leave and that his father would speak to him the following day.
A woman threw a glass at a police constable's face as she was being arrested.
The glass hit the officer's chin and Inverness Sheriff Court heard it was "fortunate" that Kirsty Laird's action did not result in a more serious injury than the small cut and slight swelling the officer suffered.
Laird (32) of Golf View Road, Inverness, had previously appeared and admitted police assault which occurred in Glendoe Terrace, Inverness on April 29, 2021.
A woman conned her own family in a £35,000 bogus Hollywood actress fraud.
Ann Dunlop (68) claimed a woman she knew was being lined up for million pound contracts and convinced her brother to hand the woman cash to help her make the breakthrough.
She stated that the woman was mingling with A-listers such as Leonardo Di Caprio and Beyonce as well as being managed by US entertainment executive Irving Azoff.
A pedestrian's right leg had to be amputated after the cab of a lorry knocked her off her feet and under the wheels of the HGV.
The woman was on her way to Boots the chemist in Kingsmills Road, Inverness at lunchtime on March 12, 2021 when she was struck by the vehicle being driven by 33-year-old John MacLeod from the city's Southside Road into Crown Street.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that MacLeod had been drinking the night before and the amount of alcohol in his breath would have been 37mcg at the time of the collision when the limit is 22mcg.
An aggressive drunk who was ejected from an Inverness pub only to return later with a knife has been warned he could be jailed.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that Robert Campbell (60) of the city's Anderson Court, was deemed unsuitable for unpaid work and was on benefits.
A background report had been called for by Sheriff Robert Frazer who said there were few options left to him and custody was foremost in his mind.
A Stirling man hurled racist and sectarian abuse at police and pub staff after being thrown out of two Inverness city centre bars.
Thomas Cumming, of Keir Avenue, Raploch, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court and admitted two charges of threatening or abusive behaviour, acting in a racially aggravated manner and assaulting a police officer.
The offences took place on the night of July 15, 2022 in Bar One [now called The Imperial], in Academy Street, and MacCallums, in Union Street, while the 42-year-old was working in the area.
A 60-year-old Latvian woman who owned a blue American bulldog admitted failing to keep the animal under control and it attacked another dog owner.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that Aisma Muizniece, of the city's Blarmore Avenue, pleaded guilty to allowing her son to take the dog, called Storm, for a walk along her street on June 6, 2021.
A 67-year-old man was also out with his pet and Storm made to attack it with the owner stepping in to protect it.
A trip to the Belladrum music festival was a costly one for an offshore electrician earning £3000 a month.
Police were carrying out random checks on motorists on the A862 at Inchmore just after 9am on July 30 this year and stopped 32-year-old Ross Hudson.
