A 60-year-old Perth man challenged a relative to a duel at a historic Perthshire churchyard and told him: “Only one of us will make it out alive.”
Randolph Angus raged at family member Kenneth Clarke following a frosty encounter at a funeral.
He told him to get tooled up for the face-off at Greyfriar’s cemetery.
Perth Sheriff Court heard Angus’s menacing phone call followed a bitter family fall-out several years earlier.
Angus, of Cromlix Road, appeared in the dock and admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner, likely to cause fear or alarm, on March 9.
‘Bring tools’
Fiscal depute Sarah Wilkinson told the court: “There has been a long running family dispute between the accused and the complainer, Mr Clarke.
“On March 8, they attended at a funeral in Perth.
“At this occasion, the accused did not speak to the complainer and the complainer did not speak to the accused.”
Ms Wilkinson told the court: “The following day, at about 1.45pm, the complainer phoned the accused from his works van.
“Mr Clark was calm throughout this call.
“He asked the accused to leave his mother alone.”
The fiscal depute said: “The accused instantly became agitated.
“He stated to the complainer that he should meet him behind a shed at Greyfriar’s cemetery and told him to bring tools.
“He said that only one of them would make it out alive.”
Angus hung up following his threat.
Edifying spectacle
Solicitor Paul Ralph said: “Mr Angus knows it is not a very edifying spectacle to come before the court at the age of 60.
“His perception is that he tried to shake Mr Clarke’s hand at the funeral and that Mr Clarke refused.
“He admits that that just annoyed him.
“It triggered the reaction which, he knows, was not appropriate in any way.”
Sheriff Robert Carr deferred sentence for six months to give Angus the chance to prove to the court he can stay out of trouble.
“As Mr Ralph has said, this was not at all an appropriate way to conduct yourself,” the sheriff said.
“But I understand you are remorseful.”
Sheriff Carr told Angus that if he remained of good behaviour before sentencing on March 22, he would likely be admonished.
