A man has been jailed for three years after he chased a rival through Fraserburgh at night while wearing a mask, before stabbing him repeatedly.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that Daniel Hewison, 24, had “bad blood” with his victim due to a dispute over a debt.
The victim began receiving threatening messages from a phone number he did not recognise at 8pm on November 28 last year.
Soon afterwards, he also received a number of voicemails and recognised the voice as belonging to Hewison, also known as Daniel Winter, who is currently a prisoner at HMP Grampian.
Defence agent Sam Milligan said there had been an “exchange” between the two men the day before the offence.
He added: “It’s clear there was a degree of bad blood betwixt the two of them, and this led to an agreement between the two that they would meet to settle their differences.”
Fiscal depute Brian Young said: “The complainer was of the understanding that he was to meet with the accused to have what he terms as a ‘square go’.”
At around 10.15pm, the man was standing on the corner of Hamilton Road and Gallowhill in Fraserburgh with his friend, and sent a message with his location to the unknown number.
But when Hewison turned up in dark clothing and a mask, flanked by a number of unknown people, the victim turned and fled.
‘Stabbing pain’
Hewison pursued him north along Hamilton Road, then through some residential gardens and onto Fernie Place.
While trying to escape between two cars on Fernie Place, the victim stumbled, tripped and fell to the ground, and his masked chaser caught up with him.
He then felt a stabbing pain in his left buttock and left thigh.
People nearby heard his cries and, after finding him bleeding severely, took him to Fraserburgh Hospital around 10.30pm.
An ambulance later took him south to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, where wounds on his flank and buttock were closed with sutures.
At around 10.35pm, he received a final message from the unknown number, simply saying “told yi”.
The number has since been confirmed as belonging to Hewison.
Custody sentence ‘as night follows day’
Sheriff Graham Buchanan highlighted differences between the fiscal’s report and Hewison’s version of events, saying: “I don’t think that description of the circumstances could be further removed from the account which the accused appears to have given to the social worker.”
Mr Milligan explained that Hewison had mentioned “self-defence” in the court-ordered social work report.
He went on to say: “The complainer himself is perhaps no stranger to criminal proceedings,” and added that his client “does regret” what happened.
Sheriff Buchanan said a significant custodial sentence would follow “pretty much as night follows day”, and handed Hewison three years in prison with a 12-month supervised release order afterwards.
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