Teen stabbed pupil in face
A Perth schoolboy knife thug who stabbed another teenage pupil twice in the face, scarring him for life, was high on a cocktail of drink and drugs at the time.
He was initially put on the Right Track scheme, designed to steer youngsters away from a life of crime.
But he was warned he could face detention after Perth Sheriff Court was told he faced trial on another unspecified criminal charge later this year.
The 16-year-old - who was 15 at the time of the blade attack - can’t be named for legal reasons.
He struck the victim, who was also 15, after drinking 20 units of vodka, 12 units of the caffeinated alcopop Dragon Soop and taking two ecstasy tablets during an under-age drinking session.
Before pulling the blade from the waistband of his trousers, the teen told the other pupil: “Come outside and I’ll sort you out. “Come outside and I’ll slash you.” Sheriff Lindsay Foulis compared the case to the killing of Cults Academy pupil Bailey Gwynne.
But he put the Perth youth on Right Track after he admitted an amended charge of striking the victim twice on the face with a knife in a house in Firbank Road, on the city’s Letham housing estate, on October 1 last year, to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement.
The accused had been attending a local secondary school until being excluded following his arrest.
At a Right Track review on Wednesday last week, solicitor David Holmes asked that the support his client was receiving be allowed to continue, pending his “recent progress” on the scheme.
The lawyer revealed, however, that the accused had another outstanding case set down for trial on September 15.
Sheriff Foulis told the youngster: “No matter how well you may be doing on Right Track, I’m not saying this is a glowing report.
“It’s not bad but you have an allegation of further offending appearing over the horizon - and that’s not a good sign.”
A background report on the teen indicated that he was “extremely anxious” about potentially spending time in a Young Offenders’ Institution as a result of the knife attack.
“The fact you are on Right Track doesn’t mean that will not be visited upon you,” warned the sheriff.
“Depending on the outcome and the circumstances of the outstanding case, that may still happen.”
The teenager will return to court to discover his ultimate fate on October 4.
His bail was continued until then.
When the pair got to the woman’s home in Rattray’s Myrtle Park, she told him he might have broken two of her fingers.
But callous Dolan shouted back: “Well, that’s what you get for being an a ****** e.”
He subsequently appeared at Perth Sheriff Court, charged with assault. But was freed on bail, with special conditions not to contact her.
But as soon as he left the dock, he phoned her - and she continued to receive a barrage of calls and texts, pleading to get back with her.
In one message on April 29, he said that if they didn’t get back together,”life wouldn’t be worth living.”
Dolan was given a Community Payback Order at Perth Sheriff Court after he admitted the assault on the female in Blairgowrie on April 8 this year.
He also flouted bail orders dated April 10 and May 2, banning him from contacting her or entering Blairgowrie.
Depute fiscal Bill Kermode they had both been in the Crown Bar in Blairgowrie about 10pm on the Saturday night.
But she became annoyed after she thought another woman was “flirting” with him.
When they left the bar at 12.30am, he grabbed her right wrist and pulled her along Commercial Street.
She didn’t want to go but he then grabbed her by the neck and pinned her against a wall.
He then pulled her into Terminus Street.
When police traced the woman she had grazing to her right forearm, scratches on the knuckles of her right hand, swelling to two of her fingers and a red mark on the side of her neck.
“She declined any medical attention,” added Mr Kermode.
Despite the bail orders in force, Dolan was found on one occasion in the bedroom of her house.
“On seeing the police, he started to cry and said he knew he shouldn’t be there,” explained the fiscal.
He then said he “loved” her and needed to sort things out.
A solicitor for the accused said another woman in the bar “seemed to take a shine” to the accused - and that caused her some difficulty.
He had difficulty accepting that the relationship was over but claimed she had been giving out “conflicting signals”.
The lawyer added, however, that it had now ended.
Dolan, of Marryatt Terrace, Dundee, will have to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and will be tagged and restricted to his home from 7am-7pm for the next six weeks.
He was also given a 12-week jail sentence for ignoring one of the bail orders but that was backdated to May 8, when he was remanded, so that has been served.
In addition, he will be supervised for nine months, with conditions that he doesn’t enter Blairgowrie or contact his ex-partner without prior approval from his supervising officer. unleashed a barrage of vile threats at police officers after he had been arrested for flouting his bail curfew.
Twenty-three-year-old Darren Mitchell threatened to rape one officer’s children - and slash his throat when he next saw him.
And in another outburst at Perth police headquarters, he said he would rape and then kill another constable’s wife.
Sheriff William Wood told the accused that he had “just been persuaded” not to jail him but instead be supervised for a year as part of a Community Payback Order.
Mitchell, of Tweedsmuir Road, will also have to complete 200 hours of unpaid work within nin e months.
A Restriction of Liberty Order was imposed - and and he will be ‘tagged’ and will have to stay in his home from 7pm-7am, seven days a week, for the next four months.
“You need to be reminded that your actions have consequences for your liberty,” stated the sheriff.
Mitchell admitted breaching a previous 7pm-7am bail curfew imposed at Perth Sheriff Court on July 11 last year by being in Perth’s North Methven Street about 8pm on May 9 this year.
He also repeatedly shouted and swore and made sexually violent comments towards police while en route to their headquarters in Barrack Street - and while at the station.
Depute fiscal Bill Kermode said police had received a call from the accused;s ex-partner earlier that day expressing “concern for his welfare.”
Officers spotted him walking along Mill Street about 8pm before he got into the passenger’s seat of a car.
He was then driven off into North Methven Street and the police followed.
When the vehicle stopped at traffic lights, one of the officers approached but Mitchell attempted to hold the door shut.
“He was removed from the car and put into the back of the police vehicle.
“They thought he was under the influence of drink or drugs,” added Mr Kermode.
He immediately started his rant and when he refuised to stop, he was told he was being arrested for breaching his bail curfew.
That provoked further fury from the accused and he made the series of sickening threats.
Solicitor Cheryl McKnight told the court: “To say he’s embarrassed would be an understatement.
“He’s more than embarrassed by his behaviour that night.
“There were concerns for his behaviour at the outset.
“His relationship had broken down and all communication had been cut.
“Alcohol did play a part and he’s only too aware that is something he has a problem with.”
He had contacted an organisation called Mindspace and was awaiting an appointment.
“He’s aware he’s put himself in a tricky position and all options are open to the court.”
Sheriff Wood told Mitchell that prison was “justified” but on balance he felt a community-based disposal would be more beneficial to society.
“Hope springs eternal,” added the sheriff.
But he warned him: “You must modify your behaviour or you will be in and out of one prison or another.”
The boy had drunk 20 units of vodka, 15 units of caffeinated alcopop and taken two ecstasy pills