Sheriff court

A man who kicked a bar steward as she tried to help him and then locked her colleague’s neck between his legs was fined £375 at Perth Sheriff Court yesterday.

The court heard Matthew Piper, 36, of Lumsden Crescent, Almondbank, was asked to leave The Venue around 2am on June 17 as he was “so drunk”.

Depute fiscal Lisa Marshall said: “Both bar staff saw the accused lying in a doorway and the woman walked over to help him. However, the accused kicked the woman on the leg.

“Her male colleague saw this but the accused lashed out at him, and placed his neck between his legs in a scissortype lock.”

Defending, solicitor John McLaughlin said his client had “little” recollection of the incidents.

“One of the first things my client remembers is waking up in a police cell,” he said.

Piper admitted assaulting both people in St John’s Street, Perth, on June 17. He was fined a total of £375. Meanwhile, Shaun Toher, 27, of Crown Road, Perth, will appear for sentence at court on August 2.

He admits butting a man on the head, repeatedly punching him on the head, knocking him to the ground and attempting to kick him on the body at The Loft nightclub, South Street, Perth, on September 25 last year.

Sentence was deferred for background reports.

And Lucian Telcean, of Castle Menzies, Aberfeldy, was fined £500 at court on Tuesday.

He admitted driving with excess alcohol – 57 mics – on the Dunkeld Road, Aberfeldy, on June 18.

The court heard police stopped Telcean as he was driving on the wrong side of the road with no lights on.

Depute fiscal Lisa Marshall said: “The accused was seen driving a Vauxhall Astra on the wrong side of the road. When officers pulled him over the accused failed a breath test.”

Solicitor Jamie Baxter, defending, said his client had received a phone call from a friend asking him to come and pick him up.

Telcean was also banned from driving for 12 months.

Elsewhere, Donna Johnston, 29, of Strathtay Road, Perth, will stand trial at court on September 5, charged with obtaining £21,945 by fraud. She denies the charge.