A man has been handed unpaid work after accusing an Aberdeen busker of singing about him – then threatening to slit his throat.
Jaroslaw Mackowiak approached the musician as he walked along Union Street in the early hours of the morning.
When the 41-year-old made the bizarre accusation and threat, the busker immediately phoned the police.
But when officers arrived, Mackowiak began to scream and shout over them, resisted arrest and threatened to kill them.
Fiscal depute Dylan Middleton told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the incident happened at 3.40am on April 3.
Accused ‘lost control’
He said Mackowiak approached the busker and “accused him of singing and talking about him”.
He also threatened to slit the man’s throat, resulting in him quickly calling the police.
When officers tried to arrest Mackowiak, he “shouted over them” and “made no acknowledgement of the arrest”.
He tried to walk away and, when stopped, began waving his arms, screaming and resisting arrest.
Police officers eventually managed to bring him under control and, when searching him, found a sharp metal tool, described as an “ice pick”, in his pocket.
Ice pick was ‘tool to make fishing flies’
While in the police van Mackowiak also threatened to kill two of the officers.
Mackowiak, of Victoria Road, Aberdeen, pled guilty to two charges of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner, one of possession of an offensive weapon, and one of resisting, obstructing or hindering police.
Asked by Sheriff Graeme Napier if the Crown narrative was “about right”, Mackowiak, appearing without a solicitor representing him, said: “Yes.”
He told the court the ice pick was a tool he used to make flies for fly-fishing.
Mackowiak also explained he had been struggling with his mental health and had been signed off his work as a janitor due to stress.
He said he had been drinking at the time of the offence and “lost control”, adding: “I’m fully aware what I did was not acceptable.”
Sheriff Napier ordered him to carry out 85 hours of unpaid work and granted a Crown motion for forfeiture of the ice pick.
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