An ex-Navy man slammed his neighbour’s head on the ground in an “outrageously violent” assault after he failed to return his wife’s bicycle.
Craig McNeill, 39, suspected the man had stolen the bike and flew into a rage when he offered him a “stand-up fight”.
The assault happened outside McNeill’s home in Oakley’s Erskine Wynd on August 8 last year.
Procurator fiscal depute Catherine Stevenson said McNeill punched his neighbour’s face and was “slamming his head on the ground” before other residents intervened.
Ms Stevenson said: “The accused got up and walked back to his home and shouted ‘I’m going to kick your c*** in every time I see you'”.
The court heard that the victim sustained a cut to his nose.
Told bike was ‘safe as houses’
Defence lawyer Christopher Large told the court that McNeill’s victim is understood to have struggled with addiction and had persistently asked McNeill for money for food and transport, with his client usually complying.
On this occasion the man had requested use of his wife’s bicycle and McNeill agreed, with the proviso it would be returned as soon as possible.
Mr Large said: “The complainer took the bike and did not return it”.
The solicitor said the man initially assured McNeill the bike was “safe as houses” with someone else, but later said he couldn’t remember where he’d left it.
McNeill suspected his neighbour had stolen it.
Accused ‘came out on top’
On the day of the assault, Mr Large said McNeill had been in his garden and the man walked past and said: “What do you think you are doing reporting me to police? Don’t you know who I am or who my family are?”
Mr Large said the man suggested a “stand up fight”.
The lawyer said his client had served in the Navy for a number of years but had his shoulder crushed by a piece of machinery, resulting in daily chronic pain.
The lawyer said McNeill also suffers from a disorder which affects his ability to control anger.
He suggested this combination of factors led to McNeill reacting to the man and, with the benefit of his military training, he “came out on top”.
Mr Large said a background report describes McNeill as being remorseful and ashamed and accepting that temper got the better of him.
Provocation
McNeill appeared in the dock for sentencing this week with a walking cane.
At an earlier hearing he pled guilty to assaulting his victim by repeatedly punching him on the head and body and repeatedly striking his head off the ground to his injury.
McNeill also admitted a charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by making repeated threats of violence.
Mr Large highlighted that his client has a previous conviction for road rage, which involved him “prodding the other driver with a walking cane”.
Sheriff Peter Anderson noted there was a degree of provocation, and that the “ungrateful neighbour” failed to return the bike, but stressed it’s not a justification for an “outrageously violent assault”.
The sheriff also commended McNeill for serving his country in the Navy.
Sheriff Anderson fined McNeill £400.
For the latest court cases across Tayside and Fife, join our Courts Facebook page.
