A man has admitted smashing his way into Dunfermline Sheriff Court with a mallet.
Boguslaw Lach, 35, broke windows and door glass panels at the court during his rampage on Wednesday afternoon.
It cams after a police officer was injured in another, unconnected, incident at the court on Tuesday.
One eyewitness to Wednesday’s intruder told The Courier she was leaving the toilet when she saw Lach smashing the glass panels in the doors at the main entrance.
She said she thought he initially had guns due to the “loud banging noise” and “just bolted” into one of the courtrooms, the main doors to which were then locked.
Lach, of Inchkeith Drive, Dunfermline, was arrested and charged following the incident and appeared from custody at the same court on Thursday afternoon to admit breaching the peace.
He admitted conducting himself in a disorderly manner, smashing windows and glass panels with a mallet.
Freed on bail
Defence lawyer Shona Westwood said Lach, aided by a Polish interpreter in court, has been subject to various hospital admissions throughout the years and on a community compulsion order since 2016.
Ms Westwood said a mental health team assessed her client on Thursday as being fit for court.
Prosecutor Brogan Moffat tendered a schedule of previous convictions to the court.
However, the circumstances of the offence were not read out.
Sheriff Clair McLachlan told Lach: “Ordinarily I would remand someone pleading guilty to this in custody.
“I am not going to do that because of your particular health issues.”
The sheriff said she would call for a social work report and psychiatric assessment and released him on bail on standard conditions.
Sentencing was adjourned until July 3 to obtain the reports.
Broken glass strewn about
In the aftermath of Wednesday’s incident, police taped off the main entrance to the court building.
Multiple glass panels had been smashed on the court’s main doors and on the doors leading into the main foyer and reception area.
Broken glass was strewn across the floor inside the building.
A mallet was seen lying on the floor in the court’s foyer area in the minutes after the episode.
One of the building’s windows, to the left of the main entrance, was left with a gaping hole in it.
By Thursday, the broken windows had been covered.
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