A man walked down a Perth street, swinging an axe, and shouted: “I’m going to murder someone.”
Terrified residents raised the alarm when they spotted Mitchell Webster wielding the weapon in the city’s Rannoch Road area.
When finally caught by police, the 21-year-old denied he had an axe. He told officers it was a machete.
Webster appeared at Perth Sheriff Court and admitted walking with the axe through four streets, causing fear and alarm, in July 2020.
He was heard making violent threats and racial remarks such as “black lives don’t matter.”
He further admitted a separate knife-related incident in January 2021.
Sheriff Francis Gill told him he was concerned that both offences involved bladed weapons.
Jumped from garden to garden
Fiscal depute Bill Kermode said that residents spotted Webster on the street with what appeared to be a pole.
He was heard shouting: “I’ve not come all this way for nothing. I’m going to murder someone.”
Witnesses got a better view of what was going on and could see that Webster was swinging an axe, not a pole, Mr Kermode told the court.
Locals called police and followed Webster from a safe distance.
They pointed him out to officers when they arrived on the scene.
“The accused was seen climbing over various fences, away from police,” said Mr Kermode.
Webster jumped from garden to garden, and eventually emerged without the axe.
It was later found by a police sniffer dog, the fiscal depute said.
Webster was traced by officers and arrested.
When quizzed about the incident, he told them: “It wasn’t an axe, it was a machete.”
Racist abuse
Mr Kermode said: “Police noticed a cut to the accused’s hand, and he was taken to Ninewells Hospital for treatment.”
In the police van, Webster shouted: “Black lives don’t matter.”
He said: “Shut your puss you mongo Paki b******.”
Mr Kermode said: “At the hospital, the accused refused any medical treatment.”
Webster, of Edinburgh Road, Perth, pleaded guilty to having an offensive weapon in Rannoch Road, Tweedsmuir Road, Marlee Road and Logie Crescent on July 12, 2020.
He further admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting, uttering threats and making racial remarks on Rannoch Road and in a police van to Ninewells Hospital.
Webster also pled guilty to a separate offence at Glengarry Road, Perth, on January 30.
He behaved threateningly or abusively, causing fear or alarm, by repeatedly taking possession of knives, acting aggressively, shouting and swearing and making threats of violence.
Sheriff Gill told Webster: “I note that this is your first offence.
“But these are two separate incidences involving blades.”
Webster was placed on a structured deferred sentence and ordered to take part in the Right Track programme for young offenders.
His progress will be reviewed by the court in six month’s time.
Prosecutors have seized the axe.
