A Lochgelly man attacked his parents after his father refused to arm wrestle with him, a court has heard.
John Reddington, 35, admitted assaulting Thomas and Anne Marie Reddington at their Lochore home.
Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard he punched them both to the head and body as they lay on the ground, before trying to push a fridge freezer towards them.
As he was arrested, Reddington told cops: “I need to stay off the bevvy altogether.”
He was jailed for six months.
Smash up
The court heard Reddington had been staying with his parents at their Abbotsford Road home after feeling “ripped off” by his employer.
Procurator fiscal depute Azrah Yousaf said Reddington drank throughout the day and into the next morning.
The fiscal said around 11:30am on June 15, this year, his mother, 56, and 64-year-old father were in the garden.
They became aware he was getting “more aggressive” the more he drank.
Ms Yousaf said: “He was pestering his father for an arm wrestle and the father refused because of his age.
“This appeared to anger the accused and the accused asked him if he wanted his nose to be reset, having been broken the week before”.
The fiscal said Reddington followed his father inside his home, shouting and swearing, and his mother could hear banging from upstairs and shouted at her son to stop wrecking the house.
Reddington was heard to shout he was not smashing things up and then said, “I will show you what I am going to f***ing smash up” and proceeded to punch his father in the face, causing him to fall to the ground.
Fridge freezer
The fiscal continued: “The mother then tried to pull the accused off her husband and this resulted in the accused punching her to the face and shoulder. She also fell to the ground.
“Both the mother and father were on the floor and the accused repeatedly hit them both to the face and body.
“The father managed to get to his feet.
“The accused at this time was seen to try and pick up a fridge freezer within the hallway of the house.
“He did not succeed and thereafter tried to push it towards his parents, however it did not make any contact”.
‘Sustained’ attack
Following the assault, Reddington’s parents left the house with their dogs as their son had refused to leave.
Police were contacted and Reddington, of Whyte Street, was later arrested.
After being charged he said: “I don’t know what to say, I need to stay off the bevvy altogether”.
Sheriff Charles Macnair told Reddington: “This was a sustained assault on your parents with injury to their body and head and you committed this offence while on no less than four bail orders.
“One of those bail orders was imposed eight days prior to the offence”.
Sheriff Macnair jailed Reddington for six months, backdated to June 19 when he was remanded.
Felt ‘ripped off’ by employer
Defence lawyer Amy Harley said her client had been involved in an incident with a new employer and felt he had been “ripped off”, and his parents invited him to stay with them for some time.
Ms Harley said Reddington has little memory of the incident but does fully accept responsibility.
She said her client is normally on a course of medication to help with alcohol addiction but, at the time, he was stopping taking it for a period to see how it went.
The solicitor said as soon as the incident happened he contacted his alcohol counsellor and is now back on the medication and has been since.
She said he is also on medication for PTSD.
Ms Harley added: “It’s clear from the (social work) report he is disgusted in himself and his actions and can’t believe he has done this”.
For the latest court cases across Tayside and Fife, join our Courts Facebook page.
