An angry motorist slammed on his brakes and pulled out a baseball bat after a roadside worker gave him a rude hand gesture.
The “inappropriate” hand gesture was prompted because Billy Wilson, 25, drove past the man at high speed and at close range, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
The worker was putting up a “men at work” sign on the B9024 Turriff to Huntly road on May 4 last year when the encounter happened.
Wilson’s car screeched to a halt and he exited the vehicle brandishing a silver metal baseball bat.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard how Wilson then began berating the man for the rude gesture before chasing the man into his work van.
‘Now we can have a square go’
Fiscal depute Lynne MacVicar told the court that Wilson walked toward the engineer with the bat in his left hand.
She said: “His other hand was above his head and he shouted: ‘You think you can give me the w****r sign? Come and have a go then!’
“The engineer then told Wilson ‘not with a baseball bat’, which caused the accused to throw the bat into the middle of the road whilst saying ‘we can have a square go now’.
“The accused continued to shout and argue with the man, who tried to explain that he had made the hand gesture because he had got a fright.
“He then told Wilson he was returning to his van to call the police and to take a picture of his vehicle’s registration plate.”
As he entered his work van, the engineer then attempted to lock the door but pressed the wrong button.
Wilson approached and pulled open the driver’s side door that caused the engineer who “feared for his safety” to pull to shut.
The 25-year old then walked back to his own car, picked up the baseball bat from the road and threw it into the back seat and drove off.
‘He was trying to be a big man’
Defence agent Mike Monro said his client has “never been able to come up with an excuse that’s acceptable”.
He added: “It was a full and frank exchange of words. He threatened him with the bat. But did he use it? No.
“He was trying to be a big man in this situation. It is shameful that someone would behave in this way to someone just going about his duty.”
Mr Monro added that Wilson had experienced a “pretty strong sea-change” in his behaviour since the incident.
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin told Wilson: “This was no doubt a very frightening experience for the victim, who should be allowed to go about his business without being threatened by you.
“You have the ability to turn this around but it is on a knife-edge at the moment.”
Sheriff McLaughlin sentenced Wilson, of Heathland Park, Aberdeen, to a community payback order with two years of supervision and 300 hours of unpaid work.
The baseball bat used in the incident was also confiscated.
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