Man failed to carry out unpaid work after headbutting victim in Trench Bar

A 26-year-old man who headbutted his victim and then failed to comply with an unpaid work order has been given another chance.

Thomas Drever was ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work after an assault in Trench Bar in October 2022.

He was also ordered to pay his victim £300 compensation.

But he was back before Lerwick Sheriff Court today (Monday) for non-compliance with the order.

The court heard he still had 18-and-a-half hours of unpaid work to complete and a further 100 hours to undertake in relation to a separate order issued by Aberdeen Sheriff Court.

Drever had not paid any of the compensation.

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank said Drever had a “very lengthy history” of non-compliance and he therefore had little confidence he would carry out the work.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said his client accepted the breach, which happened after he lost his house in Aberdeen and moved back to his father’s in Sandveien.

Mr Allan said it would be made clear to Drever that failure to comply again would leave the court with only one option available.

The solicitor said his client was not currently in employment and had “gone off the rails a bit” but that unpaid work could provide  him with “some direction”.

Sheriff Cruickshank said is was clear from the paperwork before the court that there had been a “history of non-compliance” with community payback orders.

He said such orders were imposed as an alternative to custodial sentences and compliance was not optional.

Sheriff Cruickshank said he could either jail Drever or allow the orders to continue.

Taking the second option, the sheriff extended each order for six months and said he would be reviewing them in four weeks’ time.

“I want to see in the report before me that there’s’ been effort made on your part to comply with carrying our some additional hours,” he said. 

Sheriff Cruickshank said Drever’s compensation payments would also be monitored.