A man who pointed a replica gun in the faces of three women has been jailed for a year.
Stephen Low terrified Danielle and Marie Higgins and their friend Stacy Urquhart on July 2 last year after he ran at them on Aberdeen’s Kemp Street waving a black replica gun.
He then pointed the weapon directly at Danielle Higgins’ face before shooting something from it, hitting a lamppost near by.
Yesterday Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard Low had been drunk when he carried out the assault on the women, using what he claimed was a toy gun.
Low had previously admitted two charges – one of assault and another of having a firearm, or imitation firearm, in his possession, making his victims fear “unlawful violence would be used against them”.
Fiscal depute Elaine Ward said Low had been demanding information from the Higgins sisters about their mother’s new partner when he threatened them with the weapon.
Representing the 22-year-old, solicitor Bob Anderson said his client knew immediately that what he had done was stupid and broke the “toy gun” into pieces before disposing of them.
The court heard that when police went to interview and arrest Low days after the incident they could not find the weapon.
Mrs Ward said there was no way the Crown could prove that the gun Low was brandishing was a real firearm.
Sheriff William Summers said there was no alternative but to hand Low, of 5 Aboyne Road, Aberdeen, a prison sentence as it must have been a “terrifying ordeal” for his victims.