Brae teenager jailed for a year for string of crimes
A Brae teenager with a burgeoning criminal career was jailed for a year and banned from driving for three years at Lerwick Sheriff Court today.
James Maloney, 18, of Burgadale, received three sentences added together for a string of crimes since November including breaking into the Staney Hill Shop, twice stealing his mother’s car, careless driving, driving while disqualified, twice breaching probation and failing to observe his night-time curfew.
In January he obstructed a police vehicle at the Viking Bus Station by refusing to move out of the way. He then threatened to headbutt the police officer.
His jail sentence was backdated to last Wednesday, which is when Maloney was placed on remand after breaching his bail just the day after it had been granted by the court. He was seen in Lerwick’s North Road late in the evening when he should have been at home in Brae. He told the court he had missed his bus while seeing an employer about a job and was trying to get a lift home.
The break-in to the Staney Hill Shop in November caused its owner £500 in damage and stolen goods.
Procurator fiscal Duncan MacKenzie said the connection between most of Maloney’s crimes was the fact they were carried out in the company of children under 16 that he was trying to impress because, in the fiscal’s opinion, “he doesn’t seem to have friends of his own age because of his immaturity”.
Sheriff Graeme Napier told Maloney he had all the makings of somebody who was going to be appearing before him “day-in, day-out” until he realised it was a waste of a life.
