One man has been jailed and another is awaiting sentence after a feud between two families came to a dramatic head.
Stephen O’Rourke and Mark Drummond appeared separately at Perth Sheriff Court on Wednesday after launching attacks on each other’s vehicles.
Depute fiscal Stuart Richardson said tension had been growing between the two parties as 36-year-old O’Rourke ”didn’t get on” with his neighbours.
It reached a climax on October 18 last year, when Drummond, who had been working away in Dingwall, visited his family at Princes Croft in Coupar Angus.
As he drove along the cul-de-sac, O’Rourke came out of his house, picked up a wheelie bin and threw it at the Ford Transit van, smashing the windscreen.
Drummond (25) used a metal ratchet to break the window of a car parked near O’Rourke’s home.
Appearing on behalf of O’Rourke, solicitor George Donnelly told the court his client had never got along with the Drummond family, particularly Mark and his brother.
”The complainer and his brother came to my client’s house for the purpose of causing trouble,” he said. ”Despite that, O’Rourke accepts full responsibility for what he did and accepts that he should not have acted in the way he did.
”The report indicates that he generally gets on well with his other neighbours and, after this offence, he took steps to assure them this would not happen again.”
O’Rourke, of Princes Croft, admitted that on October 18, at his home address, he damaged property by throwing a wheelie bin at a windscreen, causing it to break.
Drummond’s defence agent, Stephen Lafferty, said that, following earlier disputes, his client ”had the foresight” to keep his distance from O’Rourke, who lives on the same street as the accused’s brother.
”The only way to get out of the cul-de-sac is to go past his house and, as my client drove along, O’Rourke anticipated him being there and was standing in the middle of the street remonstrating with him,” he said.
After the van window was smashed, Mr Lafferty said, Drummond grabbed a tool which he had earlier used to change a tyre and retaliated.
Drummond, of Strathmore Avenue, Coupar Angus, admitted having an offensive weapon, the ratchet, on October 18 at Princes Croft. He also admitted that he damaged property by smashing a car window.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis deferred sentence on O’Rourke for six months until September 26 for good behaviour.
Because of his previous convictions, Drummond was jailed for six months.
He said: ”I take into account O’Rourke’s actions on the day in question with the blue touch paper being lit, but this is just more of the same from you.”