A “tired and grumpy” man whacked a HGV driver with his walking stick after being woken during a delivery.
William Mainland, 64, attacked delivery driver Stephen Dalrymple after being woken by the noise of the lorry being unloaded at around 8.20am on February 18 last year.
He left his flat above the Spar store on Stanley’s Percy Street and verbally abused Mr Dalrymple, who repeatedly apologised.
However as Mr Dalrymple walked into the shop, he was hit on the back of the head with Mainland’s mobility aid.
Yesterday at Perth Sheriff Court Mainland was jailed for six months by Sheriff Lindsay Foulis.
Fiscal depute Craig Donald said the circumstances of the incident were “relatively unusual”.
He said: “This arose after the complainer, who is a delivery driver, parked his HGV outside the shop. He was closing the tailgate of the vehicle and it made a noise.
“The accused approached and began speaking to him, and said ‘if you do that again I’ll f***ing kill you’.
“The complainer apologised, assuming the noise had annoyed the accused.
“In response the accused repeated the words and began to brandish his walking stick at the complainer.
“The complainer apologised again. As he was about to enter the shop he felt a tap on the back of his head from the complainer’s walking stick.”
Asked for an explanation, Mainland swore again before walking off.
Police later traced Mainland at home, and when charged he apologised for his conduct.
Solicitor Rosie Scott, defending, said Mainland had been woken by the delivery and that the noise had been ongoing for more than 20 minutes.
She said: “He lives above the shop and is used to deliveries and noise.
“He advises me that it was excessive and continual noise and estimates it went on for 25 minutes.
“His position is that it woke him. He describes himself as tired and grumpy.
“He knows that he should not have behaved in this way and realises that the delivery driver was just doing his job.”
She acknowledged that Mainland had previous convictions for offences of a similar nature but said they had been committed while he was drunk and he had been sober on this occasion.
William Mainland admitted behaving in a threatening and abusive manner by repeatedly shouting, swearing and uttering threats of violence before brandishing a walking stick at Mr Dalrymple, and striking him on the head with it.
klmcintosh@thecourier.co.uk
