A Fife military veteran tried to climb through an innocent driver’s car sunroof with a blade after losing his temper due to an earlier assault.
Graham Yasir banged on the vehicle window while holding the nine-inch knife and asked the four occupants “do yous want stabbed?”
Yasir, 23, who left the army due to racism and suffered an “appalling” upbringing, avoided being imprisoned by a sheriff who said she did not want to inflict another “hard knock” on him.
Stab threats
Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard HGV driver Yasir had been assaulted by three males outside a pub in the city.
Prosecutor Eve McKaig told the court a witness saw his attackers run off and Yasir got in a silver car and drove off.
A short time later the same witness was near the Tappie Toories pub when Yasir shouted out of the car window towards him: “You are getting banged”.
He stopped the car in the road, blocking another vehicle containing four people, all unknown to Yasir.
One recalled seeing three males running from the direction of the silver car, being chased by Yasir, who was shouting he was “going to stab them”.
Ms McKaig said the witness saw Yasir with a black-handled kitchen knife in his hand.
She continued: “The accused banged on the window of (the) car using his fist, which was holding the knife, and shouted ‘do you want stabbed?”
“He then attempted to climb in the car through the open sunroof of the vehicle.
“(The driver) mounted the kerb with the car in a bid to get away and drove off.”
‘Flashbacks’ lead to ‘profound rage’
Yasir, of Woodside, Cowdenbeath, pled guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner while illegally in possession of a knife in the Kirkgate area of Dunfermline in the early hours of March 27 2022.
He further admitted breaching a previous community payback order.
Defence lawyer Ed Cadden said his client had felt aggrieved about being attacked, the “red mist descended” and he “completely lost his temper”.
Mr Cadden said his client had difficult experiences in childhood, described his upbringing as “appalling,” adding: “Flashbacks of (one particular) incident create a profound rage in him”.
The lawyer continued: “He left the military because, unfortunately, he was the victim of racial abuse and profiling but he has served his country and since returning to Fife, has been in steady employment.”
Sheriff Susan Duff said: “This behaviour does merit a custodial sentence but I think you have had enough hard knocks in life already and I won’t impose one.”
The sheriff sentenced Yasir to 200 hours of unpaid work and a four-month curfew order.
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