A ROW OVER PARKING led to a heated exchange outside a Moray supermarket – and landed a man in court facing threatening behaviour charges.
Elgin Sheriff Court heard that Banff man James Boyle, 47, attacked another shopper in the Tesco store car park in Keith.
Boyle placed a “rude note” on the windscreen of 65-year-old James Gardiner’s car before removing the pensioner’s glasses and attacking him on October 24 last year. The confrontation came when Mr Gardiner had left his vehicle in an area that was not officially designated for parking.
When he returned to his car he saw Boyle placing a note on his windscreen that read “learn how to drive and park” with an obscene insult. Fiscal depute Ruairidh McAlister told the court that Mr Gardiner was “shocked and confused”, and that after an exchange the accused “leaned into the vehicle and removed the complainer’s glasses and threw them onto the ground”.
Mr Gardiner contacted police when Boyle continued to shout and swear – but Boyle then got a hold of him and threw him to the ground before kicking him “several times on the body”.
After being arrested Boyle agreed “I know I should not have done it” but said he was angered by Mr Gardiner’s driving.
Sheriff Peter Grant-Hutchison expressed surprise that social work reports did not highlight a need for Boyle to undergo a psychiatric examination before placing him on a one-year community payback order, telling Boyle that he expected him to use that time to “deal with anger management issues”.