A naked knifeman who wounded a police dog and tried to stab its handler after attacking a St Andrews University student with an axe told officers after he was detained: “I should’ve chopped her up”.
Joshua Sutherland, who is originally from Inverness, hit his former girlfriend Rosie Gittings on the head with the axe before appearing dressed just in boxer shorts at a golf course in the Fife town.
Sutherland, 20, was then spotted on the Fife coastal path armed with a knife and having shed the final garment.
Footage filmed from a police helicopter was shown to a judge on Tuesday as the clearly naked Sutherland brandished the knife and refused to drop the weapon before finally being apprehended.
Sutherland was taken to Dundee police station and put in a cell under observation before speaking about what had occurred that day, despite being reminded he was under caution.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard he said: “She’s broke my f****** heart. You boys didn’t deserve that. I was scared. It was wrong. I just wanted to get away. I hope the dog’s ok, I really didn’t want to do any of what I’ve done today”.
“I know I hurt your men. I know I hurt the dog, but f*** sake I know you have a job to do. I do regret all of it, today was out of character for me. I don’t do that kind of thing,” he said.
Sutherland also said: “I hit her in the head. She should be f****** dead. I hit her in the head with an axe once. I should’ve chopped her up”.
Advocate depute Adrian Stalker said Sutherland was in a relationship with his victim for about a year but it had recently ended when he sent her a text on October 23 in 2021 stating that he was in Dundee and going to be sleeping rough.
The following morning she received a further text from him telling her that he was in St Andrews and was “freezing cold”.
She told him he could come to the house in Winram Place, St Andrews, where she was living and could sleep there for a while. He arrived five minutes later.
‘He appeared to be agitated and paranoid’
The prosecutor said: “He appeared to the complainer to be agitated and paranoid. He told the complainer that he had been taking amphetamine for two days”.
She left him to sleep in a bedroom and was sitting on the living room floor studying, with others in the room, when Sutherland walked in.
Mr Stalker said: “He walked towards the complainer as if he was going to go into the kitchen. He was holding a tomahawk size axe behind his back”.
“Without warning he pulled the axe out from behind his back and struck the complainer once with it on the top of her head, with the blunt side of the axe head. He did not say anything, before or after this attack,” said the advocate depute.
Miss Gittings fled into the kitchen and out through the back door into a fenced area at the rear of the property, where the back gate was locked.
“She was bleeding from a head wound and turned to see Sutherland holding a kitchen knife. She begged him to leave her alone,” said Mr Stalker.
Sutherland went back into the house without uttering a word and she managed to get through the property and out the front door and went to a neighbour’s home.
Police were alerted and she was taken to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee where her head wound was treated.
She underwent a CT scan and no fracture or injury to the skull was found and she was later discharged.
Mr Stalker said: “Around 13.15 on October 24 police received a report that a male had been seen at the Torrance golf course, near the Fairmont Hotel, in St Andrews, wearing only boxer shorts.
“The description of this male matched the description of the person who had carried out the attack at Winram Place“.
Sutherland was then seen naked and armed with the knife on the coastal path as a police helicopter filmed officers moving in on him.
He climbed up a steep embankment towards the 17th green at the golf course, repeatedly refusing to drop the weapon.
‘He brandished the knife in a threatening manner, shouting incoherently’
The advocate depute said: “He brandished the knife in a threatening manner, shouting incoherently.”
A police dog handler deployed his dog on a lead to bite but Sutherland stabbed the dog in the chest, causing her to jump back. He then struck the handler with the knife but hit his stab vest.
Sutherland then fell backwards and tumbled down the embankment but got to his feet and ran over a footbridge where he encountered further officers and was surrounded before he laid the weapon down.
Mr Stalker said police officers involved in the incident were uninjured. The wound to the dog was cleaned by a vet and she made a full recovery.
Plea to reduced charge
First-time offender Sutherland was originally charged with attempting to murder Miss Gittings but today admitted a lesser charge of assaulting his ex-partner to her severe injury and danger of her life.
He also admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner at the coastal path by brandishing a knife, attempting to evade police officers, failing to comply with instructions to drop the weapon, uttering threats and trying to fight with three constables.
He further admitted assaulting four police officers.
Sutherland was seen by psychiatrists following his arrest but was found not to be suffering from a mental illness.
Mr Stalker said he gave an account of his mental state at the time of the offences that was found to be broadly consistent with being intoxicated with street amphetamine.
The judge, Lord Armstrong, continued the case to May 16 at the High Court in Glasgow for the preparation of a background report ahead of sentencing.
Sutherland, who has been held at Polmont young offenders’ institution, was remanded in custody.
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