Man pulled knife on neighbour, Wick court hears

Pressure on parking in a Wick street drove Alex Rosie to take desperate measures.

He confronted one of his neighbours armed with a knife, the town's sheriff court heard last week.

Rosie (41) admitted threatening or abusive behaviour and assaulting John Stewart by presenting a knife at him, and an offending record.

The incident in Leith Walk, Wick, on May 25, last year, was captured on CCTV.

Outlining the background to it, Fiscal David Barclay said that the street was narrow and had "very few" parking areas or driveways.

He said that the situation was exacerbated by the fact that Leith Walk had been made a one-way street some time ago, making it difficult to negotiate, unless householders parked perfectly.

Mr Barclay told Sheriff Jo Platt that Mr Stewart was blocking the accused's driveway while working on a car and Rosie didn't think he was being "fair or reasonable" about it.

The fiscal continued: "Rosie had reached the end of his tether and went out and confronted Mr Stewart, shouting at him. It would have been better had they dealt with the parking issue with a bit more consideration."

Mr Stewart was working underneath his car. He got up and walked towards the accused who pulled a knife from the waistband of his trousers. Both parties were close to each other in something of a face-to-face stand off. Rosie held the knife and presented it in front of Mr Stewart who managed to disarm him "with some ease" and take the blade off him.

At that point, Sheriff Platt intervened saying he didn't wish to hear anything further as he intended to call for a background report.

The sheriff will consider the report on January 11 and hear mitigation from Rosie's solicitor, George Mathers.