A chicken farm manager from Fife smashed up his own car with bricks after getting into a “minor” accident while picking up the keys to his new home.
Jack Stein had just bought his first property when he collided with a parked car on the way back from meeting with the estate agent in Dunfermline.
He left the scene and returned to his parents’ home where, in a fit of rage, he trashed his Ford Fiesta.
Sheriff Grant McCulloch said Stein’s “ridiculous” behaviour must have terrified his parents.
He fined him £800 and imposed five penalty points on his licence.
Smashed car and slashed tyres
Fiscal depute Zahara Iqbal told Dunfermline Sheriff Court Stein’s mother thought he appeared agitated earlier that morning.
She said: “At 11am witness Sinclair was sitting in her office, where she could view the (crash) locus and she heard a loud bang, causing her to look out the window.
“She observed the accused driving his vehicle and coming out of Chamberfield Road while revving his vehicle and wheel spinning.
“He collided with a Volkswagen Polo and then went off at speed towards Townhill.”
She said the car’s owner noted his vehicle had a number of new dents and scrapes.
Ms Iqbal continued: “The accused returned to his parents’ address, where he stated to his mother that nothing was going right and he had damaged his vehicle.
“He did not say that he had crashed but that he had been bumped.
“She observed the accused smashing up his vehicle with bricks and slashing the tyres with a knife.
“She was increasingly concerned about the accused’s behaviour and called police.”
She said when officers arrived they found the 20-year-old in an agitated state and he was fixated on finding his keys.
They arrested him and he struggled with the officers.
He was released later that day and went back to his parents’ address to confront them, blaming them for his arrest.
Parents ‘must have been terrified’
Defence solicitor Alan Davie said Stein’s behaviour was as the result of a “mini-breakdown” following the end of a relationship.
The property he had bought was intended as a family home.
He said: “Everything was falling down around him.
“His relationship had come to an abrupt end and all the plans he had been making for his life had come down.
“He had a mini-breakdown on the day of the offence and behaved bizarrely.
“He fully accepts that his driving fell below reasonable standards.”
Stein, of Chamberfield Road, Dunfermline, admitted driving carelessly on the town’s Kingseat Road on January 29 last year.
He further admitted behaving in a threatening and abusive manner and resisting arrest at an address on the outskirts of Dunfermline on the same day.
