Young girl fled home after stumbling upon intruder 

A nine-year-old girl fled from her father’s house after encountering an intruder rifling though his belongings, a court heard.

Stuart Campbell Duncan, 44, admitted entering the home with the intention to commit theft when he appeared before Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

The court heard the householder left the Cunningsbugh property on the evening of 26th May, shortly before his ex-partner and their daughter arrived.

Procurator fiscal Duncan MacKenzie said the daughter wanted to say hello to her dad and entered the property while her mother waited outside.

He said the mother could see her daughter talking to someone inside the house, which she assumed to be her father.

“She was disavowed of that notion when the daughter ran out of the house, hysterical and very upset,” Mr MacKenzie said.

The fiscal said the accused had been inside the house “riffling” through the householder’s property.

The mother saw Duncan exit the house via the garage and make off on a bike.

He was arrested soon after, the court heard, and admitted the offence.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said his client was an acquaintance of the householder and it was not “just some random house”.

“There had been previous dealings between the two of them,” he added.

Mr Allan said the offence happened at a time when his client’s life was “spiralling out of control”.

Duncan had already admitted stealing bankcards from two other people around the same time.

Mr Allan said it was part of the same “course of behaviour” and was related to his client’s addiction.

However, he said Duncan had recently “changed course” and was engaging with appropriate support to tackle his addiction issues.

Mr Allan said his client wanted to get back to work and turn his life around.

He asked the sheriff to take account of the difficulties Duncan had faced, the fact the offences happened over a short period of time and that he had made “substantial progress since then”.

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank said he was “very disturbed” by the offence.

Although Duncan’s offence could not be considered housebreaking, as the property had been left unsecured, Sheriff Cruickshank said in either case the intention was the same – to steal.

“That’s something to be entirely discouraged,” he said.

“To my mind it does not greatly vary the degree of criminal intent whether the security is overpowered or whether you went in to an insecure property,” he added.

But while the offence of housebreaking carries with it the option of a substantial custodial sentence, the maximum sentence that can be imposed for entering a property without lawful authority, as in Duncan;s case, was only three months.

And with the relevant discounts applied, Sheriff Cruickshank said the maximum custodial sentence at his disposal was a mere four weeks.

He said there was “no point” imposing such a short sentence and turned to other options to reflect the “serious nature” of the offence.

Sheriff Cruickshank ordered Duncan undergo 18 months of supervision and carry out 300 hours of unpaid work.

The sentence was also imposed for Duncan’s previously admitted offences, which included the theft of two bankcards in March and June.

He used the cards to buy goods, including alcohol, scratch cards and groceries, from the Lerwick Co-op, Sound Service Station and Tesco.

Duncan also sent threats to one of the people he stole from and then smashed his car window for “dobbing him in” to the police.

Sheriff Cruickshank ordered Duncan pay more than £330 in compensation to the people he stole from.