Criminal procedure – Summary procedure – Threatening or abusive behaviour – Absolute discharge. Sheriff Appeal Court: Refusing an appeal by an appellant who was convicted after trial in the sheriff court of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner towards his wife, the sheriff having rejected his submission that the court should discharge him absolutely without proceeding to conviction, the court held that there required to be exceptional circumstances before absolute discharge could be ordered, the sheriff had given a full explanation of the facts and was entitled to find that the incident was not a trivial one, and his decision to monitor the appellant's behaviour by way of a deferral of sentence for him to be of good behaviour was a disposal which was entirely appropriate.