A young motorist was forced against his will to help a group of men track down a stash of stolen goods, a court heard yesterday.
Alexander Fraser said he had “no option” but to go along with a stranger who dragged him out of his car, assaulted him and ordered him into the back of a white Transit van.
The 20-year-old said he had helped two other men find space to store a large number of car parts weeks earlier, although at the time he did not know they were stolen.
He later appeared in court in connection with the haul and admitted a charge of reset.
Andrew Waddell is on trial at Peterhead Sheriff Court, accused of assaulting and abducting Mr Fraser from outside the Ban Car Hotel at Lonmay in April last year.
The 26-year-old is accused of seizing hold of Mr Fraser and pulling him from his vehicle, repeatedly punching him on the head and causing him to fall to the ground.
It is alleged Waddell pursued Mr Fraser, repeatedly kicked him on the body and abducted him by forcing him into a van.
He is alleged to have then driven to various locations where he forced him against his will to leave the van and then get back inside.
Waddell, of 184 Altyre Avenue, Glenrothes, faces a second charge that, on the same day, at St Magnus Road in Sandhaven, he struggled violently with two police officers.
Waddell denies all charges and a special defence of self-defence has been lodged on his behalf.
Yesterday, Mr Fraser told a jury of 13 women and two men that he was in his car outside the hotel when he was approached by a man.
“He said ‘get in the van’,” Mr Fraser said. “I told him ‘no’, and said ‘who are you?'”
He said the man told him his name was Andrew Waddell.
Mr Fraser said the driver’s side window “popped” and he was pulled out of his car and fell to the ground. He ran off and tried to get into the hotel, but it was shut.
Jurors heard he ran into a field and there was a further scuffle. “The boy said to me ‘look, come with me, it’ll be easier’,” Mr Fraser said.
“I just thought, maybe that was the easiest way. I had tried to get away and it didn’t work.”
Mr Fraser said he was driven to a row of locked garages in Peterhead, where he was given a metal bar and told to force one open.
Under cross examination by solicitor Brian Allison, Mr Fraser said he knew car parts had been stored inside the garage, but insisted he did not know they had been stolen.
The trial, before Sheriff Andrew Miller, continues today.