A north-east man has been handed unpaid work after hitting a car with a hammer when he couldn’t get past it in his van.
Tony Nicol “lost control” during the shocking incident on Slessor Drive, Aberdeen, and took a hammer to the vehicle, leaving the man and woman inside terrified.
The 27-year-old had a “discussion” with the male in the car before the altercation turned violent and he left the man’s car damaged.
Fiscal depute Anne MacDonald told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the man and woman were driving around Nigg and Torry on November 17 looking for the man’s younger brother, who was missing.
She said: “They had parked the vehicle to let the man get out of the car, cross the road and speak to one of his friends to see if that person had heard anything about the missing brother.”
Ms MacDonald said the man then got back into the car, adding: “At this stage the man saw the accused getting out of a van and noticed he had a hammer.
“Thereafter, Mr Nicol approached the man and the woman’s vehicle.
“The woman got out of the car and stood between them. I think she feared there might be some sort of disagreement or altercation between the two.
“The man took a book and pushed it into the accused’s hand and then got into the car and locked the door.”
The woman also got back into the car and Nicol “started repeatedly using the hammer on the vehicle” before she managed to drive off.
Ms MacDonald said: “The man and woman were alarmed and upset by the incident.”
She added there had been a suggestion Nicol “wanted to fight” the man and “might have known where the man’s brother was”.
Nicol, of Montrose, pled guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by acting aggressively and repeatedly striking the vehicle with a hammer and damaging it.
Keep up to date with the latest news with The Evening Express newsletter
Defence agent John Hardie said a witness had described the book “being used as a weapon to strike him on the hand”, adding: “He wasn’t given a book.”
He said: “The van can’t get past the car which is not so much parked as abandoned in the road.
“They have a discussion about where the car was, some point during which the man struck Mr Nicol on the hand.
“At that point Mr Nicol goes to his van, gets the hammer and strikes the car. He completely loses control of himself.
“He apologises for that.”
Sheriff Ian Wallace ordered him to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.