Elgin man confronted neighbour with meat cleaver
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An Elgin resident has admitted confronting his neighbour with a meat cleaver.
The town's sheriff court heard yesterday that there was already bad feeling running between William Wylie and the other man before things came to a head on May 2 this year.
As Wylie returned home the neighbour was involved in a discussion with someone else about a child's scooter.
The neighbour was calling out for the scooter, which was in a nearby garden, to be returned.
Mistakenly believing that something had been said to him, Wylie said: "Don't speak to me like that."
When asked to calm down, he then replied: "We'll see about that."
The court heard the 43-year-old defendant then briefly went into his home before returning outside with the meat cleaver.
The neighbour asked: "Are you going to use that?"
Wylie, who was standing about 10ft away, was said to have replied: "Look at the size of you. Of course I'm going to use it."
The police were called later and Wylie was arrested.
Defence solicitor Martin O'Neill described the neighbour as "an extremely large individual".
By contrast he said Wylie had suffered an epileptic seizure in the days prior to the confrontation and was not keeping well.
Mr O'Neill claimed his client had felt "vulnerable" which is why he had picked up the cleaver.
The lawyer pointed out that Wylie had never approached nearer than 10ft.
In addition he claimed that several other residents in the street had experienced "significant" problems with the neighbour.
The lawyer also stated in court that Moray Council had since relocated the man elsewhere.
Adding that Wylie had not come in front of the court in more than a decade, Mr O'Neill continued: "With the benefit of hindsight he realises he should have just gone into the house and left matters alone."
Wylie was originally intending to stand trial but changed his plea to guilty on the morning of the hearing after CCTV footage of the incident was produced.
He instead admitted a charge of possessing a bladed weapon in a public place without a reasonable excuse.
The Bain Road resident also admitted a second charge of acting in a threatening manner.
Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood commented: "You can't run around the streets of Elgin with a meat cleaver."
The case was adjourned for six weeks in order to get a GP's opinion on whether Wylie is medically capable of carrying out unpaid work for the community.
