A father took revenge on an elderly dog walker who upset his daughter by going to his door and punching him in the face.
Fergus King was angry that the vulnerable 20-year-old woman had been left hysterical in an incident which saw the 67-year-old kick out at the family’s young dog after it was aggressive towards the man’s three pets near Arbroath seafront.
King went to the victim’s door and after remonstrating with him punched him twice and kicked him on the leg.
At Forfar Sheriff Court, King, 54, of John Street, Arbroath, admitted assaulting the man at the town’s Seagate on March 16 following the Sunday afternoon altercation.
Fiscal depute Jill Drummond said the complainer had been walking his two chihuahuas and a King Charles spaniel around 3pm when the man became aware of a white dog running towards his, snapping, barking and being aggressive.
“The witness’s dog was still on its lead and he shouted at the woman to call off her dog. She did nothing but said to stop kicking at her dog,” added the fiscal.
The complainer then walked towards the harbour and after turning to return home, crossed the road to avoid a further confrontation.
The other dog then ran back across the road and became aggressive again.
“He shouted across for her to put her dog on a lead and she shouted back that he should stop berating her,” continued Ms Drummond.
The man returned home and told his wife what had happened, and around 15 minutes later answered a knock on the door to find the accused standing there.
“The accused told him he should apologise for his behaviour but the witness refused and said it should be the girl apologising,” said the fiscal.
“Without warning, the accused punched the witness twice to the left side of his face and kicked his leg, which had recently been operated on.”
Defence agent Billy Rennie said the accused was the designated carer of his 20-year-old daughter, who has learning difficulties and is a vulnerable individual.
“The complainer was vociferous towards Mr King’s daughter and she struggled to deal with that, to the point that she was hysterical when she came home,” said Mr Rennie.
The solicitor said the accused bitterly regretted what he had done.
Deferring sentence on King for six months for him to be of good behaviour, Sheriff Pino Di Emidio said: “I note the family situation. Nevertheless you simply cannot deal with matters like this in the way which you have done.”