Assault case abandoned because of court service administrative error

Muhammad Tariq, 46, was on trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court accused of assaulting a child and a woman in the city.

Following the first day of evidence in August, before Sheriff Walter Mercer, the trial was adjourned and continued to September 7 The Press and Journal reports.

The sheriff’s availability later changed and he was unable to sit on that date, so the case was continued further until yesterday.

But an administrative blunder on the part of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) meant the arrangements were not made for Sheriff Mercer to be sitting in Aberdeen yesterday.

Laura Gracie, solicitor for Mr Tariq, received a call explaining the sheriff would not be in Aberdeen because of the error.

Ms Gracie appeared before Sheriff Marion McDonald yesterday and asked that the court not defer the case further and moved for it to be disposed of.

She said: “I am relying on the principles of fairness. This is a summary court, justice is supposed to be seen to be done within a reasonable time and there have been two attempts now to complete the trial.”

Karen Dow, fiscal depute, argued alleged complainers ought to be fairly treated too and that the fault was not the Crown’s.

She said: “I think it would be unfair to conclude these proceedings because of a failure by the Scottish Court Service to provide a sheriff. These are serious charges.”

But Sheriff McDonald agreed with Ms Gracie that it would be unfair to the accused to delay the matter further.

He was acquitted on a charge of acting in a threatening and abusive manner and on two charges of assault.

A spokeswoman for the Crown Office told Scottish Legal News: “Due to an administrative error, Sheriff Mercer was allocated to another Court in a different Sheriffdom.

“Unfortunately, by the time the error was realised it was too late for the Sheriff to attend at Aberdeen.

“The case called on 14 October and the presiding Sheriff decided to acquit the accused.

“This is an exceptionally rare occurrence and we are reviewing our procedures to ensure this does not happen again.”