An armed stand-off in a Brechin street led to three men being sentenced at Forfar Sheriff Court.
Krzystof Grzeslak, 26, of East High Street, Montrose, was jailed for 10 months after he admitted trying to strike Maciek Kisiel with an axe at Hillview on September 30 while he was on bail.
His younger brother Karol, 22, of Grampian Road, Aberdeen, admitted a charge of possessing an axe and Kisiel, 39, also admitted an offensive weapon charge for carrying a baseball bat in the same incident.
Depute fiscal Jill Drummond said: “Kisiel had been visiting friends and as he left the common close words were exchanged between the Grzeslak brothers and Kisiel.
“Krzystof Grzeslak said ‘wait, I’ll show you’ and returned with a long handled axe.
“Kisiel ran to his home address in Hillside where he retrieved a baseball bat and went back into the the street just as Karol Grzeslak emerged, also in possession of an axe.
“All three began shouting at one another and the police were subsequently called.”
The fiscal made a successful forfeiture application for both axes and the baseball bat.
Kisiel’s defence agent Nick Markowski said: “There was a verbal altercation and Kisiel stood his ground.
“When one of the Grzeslak brothers appeared with a weapon the appropriate response should have been to retreat and contact the police but he went to his home, took the baseball bat and went back out.
“It was kept in a downwards motion to show the brothers he had this. At one point he threw it away and said he was willing to fight with his bare hands.”
The Grzeslak brothers pled guilty in the middle of their trial and sentence had been deferred for reports.
Krzystof Grzeslak’s defence agent Tony Burgess asked Sheriff Pino Di Emidio to consider deferring sentence for three months to show his willingness to make progress with an outstanding community payback order with 225 hours of unpaid work.
However the sheriff said he viewed a custodial sentence as the only option for the elder brother.
The said: “It was plain to me at the trial that having heard the evidence of neighbours and the other crown witnesses the only reasonable thing for you to do was to plead guilty.
“Your conduct included a significant degree of violence. You are perhaps lucky this matter was not placed on indictment which would have exposed you to more serious punishment.
“I take the view that the only appropriate way to deal with this matter is to impose a sentence of imprisonment.”
The sheriff sentenced Karol Grzeslak and Mikel each to 165 hours of unpaid work as an alternative to imprisonment, with Mikel’s sentence reduced to 150 hours to take account of his early plea.