18-year-old sentenced for "swinging" axe on Moray street and damaging car
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AN 18-year-old seen "swinging" an axe around on an Elgin street while "blackout drunk" has been sentenced.
George Stewart was sentenced at Elgin Sheriff Court yesterday (August 24) for having the offensive weapon in public on July 25, having previously pleaded guilty.
Fiscal depute Karen Poke said a witness recorded four videos of Stewart, who later admitted breaching a prior court-ordered curfew, standing outside with the axe.
The Kingsmills resident was also sentenced for damaging a car on June 3, when he was described by witnesses as an “intoxicated shirtless male” who was “shouting and kicking vehicles in the street."
Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood sentenced the young man to 80 hours of unpaid work, two years of social work supervision and ordered him to pay £350 to the owner of the car he damaged.
After Sheriff Fleetwood asked for more details of how Stewart was caught with the weapon, Ms Poke said: "He was swinging it."
Sheriff Fleetwood replied: “So it wasn’t in his pocket or discovered through a search?
“That is different from what he told his social worker for the report, that it: ‘Happened to be in my pocket.’"
Solicitor Iain Maltman said the July 25 incident was linked to what Stewart believed were "very real threats".
“The difficulties are related to a particular person," Mr Maltman said.
“The expectation was that other parties were going to attend at his address.
“He had the axe within his home.
“He then drank alcohol and then took the weapon into the street.
“There is no getting away from that fact that he did drink the alcohol and took the axe into the street."
Stewart, Mr Maltman said, had been living in homeless accommodation at the time and had been “blackout drunk” with “no memory” of the offence afterwards.
“He is not an alcoholic, but when he drinks alcohol he struggles to control himself," he said.
The solicitor added that Stewart's parents were supporting him in court and that they hope to relocate with their son.
Mr Maltman said his client had a history of completing unpaid work orders and that people involved in the orders "spoke highly" of him.
“What occurred to me, my Lord, is that he is a young man calling out for further structure in his life," he said.
Stewart admitted having breached a curfew, imposed by Elgin Sheriff Court on June 1 in relation to a different matter, which stipulated he had to remain inside between 7pm and 7am.
