An angry pensioner has been told to stay out of trouble for six months, after he attacked a woman half his age with a plank of wood because she annoyed him.
James Laughlan was ordered to behave until March next year and save £80 per month to pay a fine when he is sentenced for the attack.
The 71-year-old was previously found guilty of using a plank of wood to hit Fiona Duncan repeatedly after wrestling her to the ground outside his home.
The pensioner told Perth Sheriff Court he was fed up with people using the gate at the rear entrance to the block of flats and did not want to let her in to visit her friend.
He told the court: “She wouldn’t listen. She was arguing. It was because I wouldn’t let her through the gate. I grabbed a pallet block.
“I argued with her and picked the pallet up to hit her. I did go to hit her with it on the side of the head. She’s not a person you can deal with.”
Depute fiscal Stuart Richardson said: “He seems to think it’s acceptable, even by his own evidence, to pick up a piece of wood and strike someone with it just for coming through the garden gate.”
Laughlan, of Newhouse Road, Perth, was found guilty of attacking Miss Duncan, 36, by knocking her down and repeatedly striking her head and body with his fists and a block of wood on February 22 last year.
Sheriff Fiona Tait said she did not believe his version of events that he had been attacked by Miss Duncan and punched several times by her. He claimed she had sat on his ankles because she was “stronger than me” and rained blows on him, but the sheriff said she preferred the evidence of the Crown witnesses.
The sheriff then warned the pensioner about his behaviour in the court, as Laughlan mocked the guilty verdict and said he would be “taking the case further”.
Sheriff Tait said: “I’m afraid I don’t accept the evidence you’ve given. This is a court and we have shown courtesy towards you. Please do not be disrespectful and bear that in mind for the next occasion.”