A man caught brandishing a cutlass after his brother ended up in a brawl outside a pub was spared jail on Friday.
Graham Rule was seen with the blade — of a type more commonly associated with pirates on the Caribbean Sea — in Fort Street, Broughty Ferry.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard a fight involving Rule’s brother had broken out and he had gone to his van to retrieve the “fearsome” weapon.
He then held it to scare the “protagonists”, prompting them to scatter.
A sheriff told Rule: “The Crown has described this as a machete but it is as near a cutlass as I’ve ever seen.”
Rule, 35, of Balunie Drive, Dundee, pleaded guilty on indictment to possessing a bladed implement on April 1 in Fort Street, Broughty Ferry.
Defence solicitor Anika Jethwa said: “There was a fight ongoing, he didn’t start it.
“His brother was perhaps the cause of that but he was outnumbered and had sustained a kick on the head.
“His belongings were in the van, which was parked across the road.
“He went and got this item, it was a fearsome, frightening item.”
Sheriff Alastair Brown imposed an eight month restriction of liberty order on Rule confining him to his home address from 7pm til 7am daily on an electronic tag.
He said: “It was a very serious weapon one and if used would have inflicted exceptionally serious injury.
“It could quite easily have killed.
“You didn’t start this and you didn’t actually participate in it.
“You went to get this thing and stood with it at your side in an effort to cause people to stop — in that you were successful.
“It was a thoroughly misguided way to go about it.”
