Woman accused of robbery

A WOMAN has appeared in private at Dundee Sheriff Court accused of assaulting and robbing another woman.

Victoria Mitchell, 37, of the Salvation Army Hostel on Ward Road, is accused of, at Kinghorne Road on May 23, while acting with two others, assaulting Karen Smith, seizing her by the hair, pulling her to the ground and repeatedly punching and kicking her on the head and body, rendering her unconscious, , as well as robbing her of a mobile phone and £95.

Mitchell is also accused of possessing cocaine at police HQ on Bell Street on the same date.

She made no plea and was released on bail by Sheriff Alastair Carmichael, while the case was continued.

THOMAS Edgar, 37, of HM Prison Bowhouse, Kilmarnock, appeared in private before Sheriff Alastair Carmichael on a petition alleging he possessed heroin at HMP Castle Huntly, Longforgan, on September 11 last year.

He made no plea and was remanded in custody while the case was continued.

A BEAUTY salon owner has claimed she was “intimidated” by a council officer who told her that a client had tested positive for coronavirus.

Ruth-Jordan Brown, owner of Ruthless Studios based at Kandahar House, said she received a phone call from a member of staff in the council on Tuesday advising her that a client who had recently visited had tested positive for Covid-19.

Ruth-Jordan said she was left “distressed” by the conversation and felt she had been offered no guidance on how to manage the situation at the Meadowside business.

The 24-year-old said: “The council contacted me and let me know that somebody had been in but they didn’t really give any information.

“I’d asked who it was but they said ‘oh we can’t tell you because of patient confidentiality’.

“I understand that but, at the same time, I don’t know who this client has been in contact with or where they’ve been in the studio.

“When it came down to it, we actually found out she was only in contact with the nail technician who is in a completely different room from the rest of the staff.

“When the council phoned they were quite intimidating and didn’t really show any support at all, or give any guidance or advice on how to manage what had happened.

“It just felt like they were only looking to intimidate and threaten.

“I told him I needed to go and could speak to him later, I had clients now.

“He said, oh ‘you’re away to do clients?’ He went on to question about my business and legal side of things.

“He was asking me about whether my nail technician had a licence. I thought, ‘this is going away from the subject that you phoned me about’.

“It wasn’t made clear to me at all what the next steps were so I had to take it into my own hands, which obviously I did, and this is where it’s left me now.”

Ruth-Jordan, who only opened her business at the start of the year, took the decision to cancel her remaining appointments for the day, close the salon, do a deep clean and get all her members of staff tested.

“I was so distressed for the rest of the day,” she said.

“I think even if they’d told me I could do my clients I wasn’t going to manage to do them.”

Ruth-Jordan said on Wednesday morning she was advised there was no need to close and only the staff member who had come into contact with the client needed to be tested. She added: “I was like, ‘oh well, it’s too late now’.

“I am lucky enough to have a clientele that are supportive and a large family to help in this situation but it could have been very different without that.”

A spokesman for Dundee City Council said: “The Health and Safety Service’s role in cases like this is to give advice and encourage business owners to refer to the relevant Scottish Government guidance for their sector on how to undertake risk assessments to reduce the hazards associated with coronavirus.

“If this salon owner wishes to make a complaint she should contact health.safety@dundeecity. gov in the first instance.”

Ruthless Studios was reopening today.