Man, 62, had meat cleaver at hospital

A man who went to Ninewells Hospital’s A&E with a meat cleaver later told police he planned to use the blade to “cut a leg of lamb”.

Francis Malone, 62, was found lying on Victoria Road with a head injury, Dundee Sheriff Court heard.

Paramedics were called and when they arrived they found a vehicle stopped in the road.

There were several people standing around Malone.

Fiscal depute Isma Mukhtar told the court: “They moved and paramedics saw the accused had an open wound on his head above his eye.

“He appeared conscious and paramedics dressed the wound.

“He was taken to Ninewells Hospital where he was admitted.

“Hospital staff removed his clothes and as they were in the process of changing him discovered a meat cleaver in his trousers.”

Staff contacted police who arrested, cautioned and charged him. Malone told police: “I was going up to my wife’s house to cut a leg of lamb,” the court heard.

Solicitor Jim Caird, defending, told the court that Malone had suffered an industrial injury in 1999 which left him with many broken bones, problems with his balance and mobility issues.

Mr Caird said: “He has issues with his hands and an instrument like this helped him in the kitchen.

“He keeps company with people with mental health problems. On this evening he realised his meat cleaver had been taken from his home and he went to get it back. He’d been drinking and was given the knife back, took it out and was subsequently assaulted by these people, which is how he came to get the head injury.”

Malone, of Fleming Gardens East, admitted having a meat cleaver at Victoria Road and A&E, Ninewells Hospital, on March 24.

Sheriff Lorna Drummond said: “Given the nature of the offence and the fact he has a record — even though he has not offended in the last four years — it is a relatively serious offence.”

She ordered reports and deferred sentence until January 5.

An NHS Tayside spokeswoman said: “We take each and every incident extremely seriously as it is a fundamental right of our staff that they can carry out their duties without having to face any kind of violence or the threat of violence.”