A Kirkcaldy teenager who stabbed a neighbour in a street confrontation has been found guilty of murder after a seven-day trial at the High Court in Dundee.
Last March Sonny Dear (18) was living with his mother in Adamson Place, Glenrothes, when neighbourhood tensions erupted after a family funeral.
His mother Joyce had been drinking and went out into the usually quiet cul-de-sac to shout at her neighbours, starting an escalating spiral of violence that led two families to the High Court.
One of the neighbours, Brian Johnstone (48), was standing outside his front door smoking a cigarette when Joyce Dear turned her attentions on him.
He reacted, and as he clashed with Joyce Dear’s sons and their friends, Sonny Dear ran back inside his home and snatched a carving knife from a kitchen drawer.
By the time he returned outside, Mr Johnstone was on his hands and knees but he continued to run towards him and stabbed him twice in the back with such force he cut through bone to cause the fatal injuries.
Jurors took just over two hours to reject Dear’s claim he was trying to defend one of his friends and his mother.
The majority guilty verdict of murder also rejected defence arguments that Mr Johnstone’s behaviour provoked Dear.
Mr Johnstone’s brother James said, “Although nothing can bring back Brian, we feel justice has been done.
“The whole family has been devastated and we will never forget how Brian died perhaps now we can begin to move forward.”
He said the family wished to thank police, prosecution and medical staff for their support, and in particular Nicola Johns of the Scottish Huntington’s Association for the time she took to be with them through the trial.
Mr Johnstone had been diagnosed with the progressively degenerative genetic disorder at the time of his death.
Witnesses said Dear, who was 17 at the time, had been the peacemaker at first, attempting to calm his mother and persuade her to return home.
Despite Dear’s claims he acted in panic, he was sufficiently cool-headed to wash the knife and drop it, along with another knife, down a drain in a nearby street.
He then met with friends and lay low until the following morning.
It was only when he spoke to his sister that he was persuaded to hand himself in.
He tried to put police off the trail by telling them he had “chucked away” the knife in woods, but the murder weapon was recovered, containing the DNA of Mr Johnstone on the blade and Dear’s DNA on the handle.
Defence counsel Mark Stewart QC told jurors the defence had never disputed Sonny Dear inflicted the fatal blows.
“This was a tragic incident in the cold light of day, in hindsight, with a little thought, one that seems so easily avoided.”
He asked them to accept “Sonny Dear never sought or wanted this confrontation. It takes place in the dark, it was fast moving, it was frightening.”
In these circumstances he had asked the jury to find Dear was acting in defence of his friend, or, if they were not persuaded, that the reaction of Mr Johnstone was sufficient provocation to reduce the crime to culpable homicide.
After the verdict, advocate depute Graeme Jessop told the court Dear was a first offender.
Mr Stewart said the court would be required to impose a life sentence, but background reports would be required before a minimum period of detention could be set.
Lord Kinclaven adjourned the case to the High Court in Aberdeen on June 8 for preparation of reports and ordered Dear to be kept in custody.