A man has been found guilty of stabbing his dad with an ornate letter opener during a booze-fuelled row at their home in Perth.
David Forde, 61, suffered a 10cm cut across his forehead and left ear, as well as a deep penetrative wound on his back.
He told a jury he remembered nothing about the incident and only had vague recollections of being in hospital.
Mr Forde insisted his son John would never attack him in such a way.
He said he had tried to retract a statement he gave to police stating his son had stabbed him, dismissing it as “a drunken story. It wasn’t true”.
John Forde, 31, denied assaulting his dad at their flat in Ballantine Place on February 17 last year but jurors found him guilty by majority after two days of evidence at Perth Sheriff Court.
Police statement
Mr Forde Snr, a self-employed gardener, told fiscal depute Lee Corr: “To be honest, I don’t recollect what happened on the evening in question.”
He said he recalled seeing blood on his shirt and assumed he had fallen.
But in a statement he gave to police, he said that he and his son were at home and shared a half bottle of whisky, some vodka and beers while they watched TV and “opened letters”.
Mr Forde Snr told police his son got a text from his girlfriend “which angered him”.
“I mentioned something like ‘she’s a bit young’ and he started shouting and became aggressive,” he told police.
“John then grabbed the knife from the dining room table drawer,” the statement continued.
“He then ran it up and down my neck with the sharp part. He did not say anything while this was happening.
“I felt a sharp cut along the left side of my forehead.
“We started struggling, grabbing each other.
“It was at this point I felt a sharp pain in my left shoulder.
“I think he stabbed me with the knife.”
A drunken story
Mr Forde said he probably told all that to police but told the trial it was not true.
He said he had gone to the procurator fiscal’s office in Perth and handed over a second statement after they refused to retract his original one.
In court he said: “It’s self-explanatory what happened.
“He must have had the knife on his finger as he was supporting me when I fell.
“It would appear to have been done accidentally.”
Mr Forde Snr said he had been playing with the knife, described as a curve letter opener with a four inch blade and black handle, and maybe cut his own head.
“I’m very sorry but I think I over-exaggerated on that night – I was seeking attention.
“I didn’t intend to hurt my son in this way. I can only apologise to the court.”
He confirmed to solicitor David Holmes he was speculating but had no memory of what actually happened.
Fiscal depute Lee Corr asked: “Given you don’t remember what happened, isn’t it possible that what you told police was true?”
After a pause, Mr Forde Snr replied: “It’s possible but its very doubtful.”
Banned from seeing dad
The jury took two-and-a-half hours to find Forde Jnr guilty of assaulting his father by striking him on the head and body to his injury.
Allegations he also pushed and punched his victim, causing severe injury and permanent scarring, were deleted.
Sheriff Jennifer Bain KC told Forde Jnr, of Florence Court, Perth ,”this is a very serious matter” and deferred sentencing to the new year.
His bail was continued, meaning he is still not allowed to contact his father.
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