A drunken 62-year-old mistakenly tried to clamber into a neighbour’s bed after stumbling into the wrong flat in Perth.
Peter Dunkley barged into the insecure property after a heavy night’s drinking unaware his own home was still doors away, in the city’s Stanley Crescent.
He blundered through the flat in an alcohol-induced haze until entering what he thought was his own bedroom, only to wake the stunned occupant.
The night-time incident led to a bizarre standoff in which the two men – one intoxicated, the other half asleep – each attempted to persuade the other it was their home.
It came to an end as Dunkley – middle name Rocky – laid out his victim with a single punch to the head.
The assault left the man bleeding from a cut above his right eye as the frail accused stumbled off down a darkened set of stairs.
Hours later, as he handed himself in to the police, Dunkley was apparently still under the misapprehension that he had simply been defending his home from intruder.
He admitted assaulting the man, but told officers: “I know what happened. He deserved it. I let him have it.”
During his interview, he was asked why he had carried out the assault, but replied: “I’m not willing to say. That is between men.”
Dunkley subsequently admitted behaving in a threatening and abusive manner on September 2 last year by entering a property uninvited, shouting and swearing, striking the front door with his hands and refusing to leave.
He also admitted assaulting a man by punching him on the head to his injury.
Perth Sheriff Court heard the two men had been former drinking buddies, but it was unclear whether Dunkley appreciated that fact during the incident.
Solicitor John McLaughlin said the pair lived just a few doors apart and that “the layout of the flat was identical to that of Mr Dunkley’s property”.
“In the past my client had been robbed,” the agent said. “He had known people to enter his home and take items
“On this night he was heavily under the influence of alcohol.
“He believed it was his property and that the man had no business being there.”
Mr McLaughlin said Dunkley had resisted the urge to consume alcohol since the incident.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis fined him £600 and ordered him to pay his victim an additional £200 in compensation.
