A Cowdenbeath man who tried to strike a 15-year-old boy with a knife has been jailed for eight months.
William Whyte, 44, appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court for sentencing after earlier pleading guilty to the assault at an address in his hometown on November 18 last year.
He also admitted having a knife in public without lawful authority on the same date.
Steak knife
Prosecutor Isma Mukhtar told the court that at around 10.20pm Whyte entered a property and was challenged by the complainer in the hallway about a previous incident.
The fiscal depute said: “The accused then grabbed the complainer by the chest of his t-shirt and said ‘right, you’.
“The accused was pushed away by the complainer, who told him not to touch him.
“The accused then stated ‘do you really want to start this?’ and pulled a knife out from his back left hand trouser pocket.
“The knife was between six and seven inches in length and appeared similar to a steak knife”.
A woman in the property heard raised voices and separated them and told Whyte to put the knife away, which he did.
She then took it from his back pocket after the situation calmed down.
Police were contacted and they seized the blade and Whyte was later traced and charged.
Desperate circumstances
The main charge admitted by Whyte states he assaulted a boy, then aged 15, by seizing him by his clothing, pushing him on the body and attempting to strike him on the body with a knife.
Defence lawyer Shona Westwood said first offender Whyte had experienced a decline in personal circumstances at the time due to losing his brother and home and that he turned to alcohol and diazepam to cope.
The solicitor said her client, of Sinclair Drive, Cowdenbeath, did not recall much of the offence but accepts his conduct.
She said he has been working with support services and is currently abstaining from alcohol.
She added: “He understands the seriousness of this and is grateful nothing worse happened”.
Sentencing
Sheriff Wyllie Robertson told Whyte: “I appreciate you appear before the court as a first offender and you have reached the age of 44 without having previously come to the attention of the authorities.
“But I have to look at the facts of this case… you went to this house armed with a knife and you assaulted the complainer and you attempted to strike him with this knife, in terms of the libel.
“This is a serious matter and a structured deferred sentence, as recommended in a social work report, is a wholly inadequate and inappropriate disposal for a matter like this, notwithstanding the fact you have no previous convictions”.
Sheriff Robertson jailed Whyte for eight months.
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