A mystery man appeared out of the blue in a couple’s garden shouting “you’re dead” while brandishing an axe.
Francis Davie was remonstrating with Wayne and Valery Roxburgh on their doorstep when the bizarre incident unfolded in Dundee’s St Kilda Place.
Davie, 43, had turned up at the house shouting abuse and telling the pair: “I’m going to kill you.”
But Dundee Sheriff Court heard the shouting match was interrupted by an unknown man who appeared with the weapon, then made off again.
The man was not connected to either party, the court was told.
Fiscal depute Trina Sinclair said the drama happened on November 18 last year.
She said: “The complainers heard loud banging on their front door.
“They opened the door and the accused was on the footpath shouting, ‘Come out, I’m going to kill you,’ and making offensive references to Mr Roxburgh.”
The couple went outside and an argument ensued in the garden.
The fiscal continued: “A witness who lives next door looked out of their window and saw the accused shouting and swearing in the street, then walking towards the complainers in a threatening manner.
“Another man then jumped over a wall, brandished an axe at them and shouted ‘you’re dead’ while moving towards the complainers.”
Defence solicitor George Donnelly told the court the axe-wielding man was unknown to Davie.
Mr Donnelly said there was an ongoing dispute between the Roxburghs and Davie following an allegation of theft, resulting in repeated incidents and police involvement.
He said: “The Roxburghs had attended at his house threatening violence. Twenty minutes later they attended again.
“He went to theirs and told them in no uncertain terms that enough was enough. The second man with the axe was nothing to do with him.
“Three weeks later he received more threatening messages from them via Facebook and, rather than retaliate, he contacted police.”
Davie, of Scotscraig Grove, admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner. Sentence was deferred until December 6 for good behaviour and an updated background report.
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