A thug has been jailed for more than five years after a crime spree that included attacking a have-a-go hero with a hand saw.
A woman spotted Arran Baird taking items from her son’s car at Banavie Court, Ellon, and when her partner rushed outside to challenge him, Baird became aggressive and violent.
The man restrained Baird, 37, but in the struggle Baird lashed out with a hand saw, leaving his victim with cuts to his neck, chest and stomach.
However, the brave man still managed to keep hold of his assailant until police arrived, and Baird has now been handed a lengthy prison term after admitting 10 charges.
Fiscal depute Lucy Simpson told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the handsaw attack happened at around 4.40am on May 1.
Ms Simpson said: “The accused struck the complainer repeatedly to the body with a hand saw, causing cits to the left side of his neck, chest and stomach.”
Baird, a prisoner of HMP Grampian, admitted charges of theft from a vehicle, assault to injury, possession of a hand saw and breaching a bail curfew over the matter.
He also admitted theft of a wallet, iPod and keys from a vehicle on Gordon Place, Ellon, on the same day, as well as tools and hardware from a vehicle on School Hill, Ellon.
The stolen items were recovered.
In a separate incident on January 10, a member of the public phoned police and an ambulance out of concern for Baird after spotting him falling down and seemingly under the influence of alcohol walking towards Brunswick Place in Aberdeen around 5pm.
Paramedics attempted to treat him for a head injury but were unsuccessful and police had to restrain him.
Cops used PAVA spray on accused
Baird then spat at a female officer, but it did not connect.
Days later, on January 16, Baird got into an altercation with a man in Aberdeen city centre.
Ms Simpson told the court Baird, the complainer and two others had been walking on Union Street when one of them dropping an “unknown substance”. The complainer then picked it up and and “ran off”.
Baird chased and tried to grab him, resulting in the man striking him with a metal bottle he’d been carrying.
The man ran into Sunny’s on Market Street, where Baird grabbed him, put him in a headlock, repeatedly punched him and grabbed the bottle.
Baird then hit him repeatedly to the body and once to the head with the metal bottle, while his victim “cowered” on the ground.
He was left with a cut above his left eye.
Baird pled guilty to charges of assault and assault to injury over those matters.
In another separate on December 4 last year, Baird admitted attempting to break into a house on Station Road, Ellon, with intent to steal, and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
A woman had been at home when she heard Baird try the back door handle.
She rushed to a neighbour for help and they ran outside together to see Baird in the garden before climbing over a wall.
Baird was ‘under the influence of substances’
The woman found a broken window at her summerhouse and a hammer and mask which she did not recognise.
Police arrived and apprehended Baird, who began to struggle violently to the extent officers used PAVA spray on him.
He was found in possession of a screwdriver, Stanley knife and hammer.
In the police van, Baird began to make homophobic comments towards officers and spat all over the cage area, stating he “had Covid” and officers might be infected if they tried to clean it.
Defence agent Neil McRobert said his client had a “history of substance misuse”.
He said that after Baird was released from his last sentence he secured employment, but that by 2020 he was “drinking alcohol to excess and using valium” and lost his job in February.
Mr McRobert said his client was “under the influence of substances” at the time of the offences, and had limited recollection.
Sheriff Philip Mann ordered Baird to be jailed for a total period of 61 months and two weeks – which totals just over five years.
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