A “Jekyll and Hyde” knifeman has received a 39-month sentence after a dramatic Angus street incident captured on CCTV.
It took the combined effort of four police officers to bring Mark Smith (20) under control after he had charged around Forfar in front of terrified locals with a foot-long Bowie knife at one point holding the blade to the throat of a man he used as a human shield against CS spray.
Smith was told he posed a high risk to the public by a sheriff who also noted the lasting effect caused to the confidence of one of two sisters the 20-year-old thug assaulted in the lead-up to the shocking events witnessed by Sunday night drinkers last October.
As previously reported, Smith had previously been remanded in custody after admitting that on October 24, at the Old Mason’s Bar in West High Street, he breached the peace by waving a lit cigarette lighter in the face of a woman, placing her and another woman in a state of fear and alarm.
He also pleaded guilty to assaulting an unknown male in East High Street, Forfar, by seizing him by the neck, threatening to kill him and struggling with him.
Smith further admitted possessing the knife in a public place, repeatedly brandishing it and attempting to strike one police officer, assaulting another by striking him on the hand with the weapon, and a separate charge of assaulting four police officers by repeatedly brandishing the knife, lunging at them and attempting to strike them.
Sheriff Veal said, “The accused must have been in a very aggressive mood, and this was demonstrated by what he said to the two women ‘I’ll do what I did to your sister. I should have killed your sister and nephew, and I’m going to kill you all’.”
The sheriff said the court narrative and the CCTV footage had spelled out “the dangerous behaviour of the accused on the evening in question.”
He added that one of the female victims still had an injured eye months after the incident and was “constantly apprehensive and remained frightened that something will happen without warning.”
“The assault and the whole incident has had an impact not only on herself but also her wider family,” added Sheriff Veal.
Defence agent Bob Bruce said his client had a “Jekyll and Hyde aspect to his character.”
Mr Bruce said psychologists had identified an impulse control disorder in the accused, which could be rooted in violence against him as a youngster.
Sentencing Smith, Sheriff Veal said, “It is clear that the accused poses a high risk of violent reoffending.
“The gravity of these offences dictates that custody is inevitable,” said the sheriff, who further ordered that Smith be the subject of a 12-month supervision order on his release from custody.