A pensioner got off his mobility scooter and stabbed his brother-in-law in the middle of a Fife street as part of a long-running family feud.
Robert Penman, 66, attacked John Cunningham with a knife in the incident in Kirkcaldy, leaving him scarred for life.
He admitted the offence, which happened in Links Street on November 16 last year, when he appeared at the town’s sheriff court on Tuesday.
The court heard the pair clashed in broad daylight on a Saturday morning following an alleged incident involving Mr Cunningham’s son the previous evening.
Fiscal Ronnie Hay said witnesses saw Mr Cunningham stop his van suddenly on Links Street not long after 10.30am, effectively blocking the road.
Penman approached the vehicle and Mr Cunningham got out and was seen to throw the first punch.
The pair then exchanged blows before Penman fell to his knees.
Mr Cunningham got back in his vehicle and drove home while witnesses went to the aid of Penman who was lying in the middle of the road.
However, it later emerged that Penman had managed to stab Mr Cunningham three times on the body with a Stanley knife.
Mr Hay said Mr Cunningham’s wife heard him pull his vehicle into the drive at their home and became worried when he didn’t immediately enter the house.
She went out to see what was keeping him and found him sitting in the driving seat bleeding from his left hand side.
Mr Cunningham was taken to Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital where he needed internal and external stitches to his wounds.
He told officers he had “felt something cold” in his side before leaving Penman “in bits” following the fight.
Penman, whose address was given as Durward Street, Leven, was also taken to hospital to be treated for head injuries, but was later released.
Defence solicitor David McLaughlin said the Crown had accepted his client had acted under provocation.
However that was questioned by Sheriff Jamie Gilchrist QC who asked why Penman had approached Mr Cunningham with a knife in the first place.
“The extent of the provocation appears to have been a punch or two, that’s all?” the sheriff asked.
“You are not offering any explanation for that?”
Mr McLaughlin replied: “I can’t because Mr Penman hasn’t given me one.”
He said his client suffered from a number of health problems, including social phobia, panic attacks, anxiety and depression.
“It’s a matter which he is well aware could result in a custodial sentence,” Mr McLaughlin said.
Sheriff Gilchrist agreed to Mr McLaughlin’s request for bail to be continued and deferred sentence for the preparation of background reports.
