A man was left terrified after a stranger banged on his door and threatened to burn his house down in a case of mistaken identity.
Cameron Burnside was hammering on the door of the property on Aberdeen’s Cairncry Road – not realising he had gone to the wrong house.
The panicking householder tried to explain he wasn’t the person he was looking for, but the 25-year-old ignored him and threatened to pour petrol through his letterbox.
Burnside, who admitted being involved in the offence on the basis that he acted with others, then went outside and began throwing objects through the man’s windows.
Fiscal depute Kiril Bonavino told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that around 5.30pm on February 3 the man was at home on Cairncry Road when he heard a “smashing” sound.
On looking out the window he saw a van outside, and then heard male voices within the hallway.
‘They got the wrong house’
His doorbell began to ring and he could see Burnside through the peephole punching the door.
The concerned man immediately called the police.
He tried to speak to the men outside the door and was told they were looking for someone who wasn’t him.
The man said he wasn’t that person and “offered to prove this”.
Mr Bonavino said: “The accused ignored this and threatened to pour petrol through his letter box and burn his house down.”
Burnside then went outside and objects were thrown at the man’s windows, smashing them.
Burnside, of Skinnergate, Perth, admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
Alexander Burke, 31, of Dyce, pled guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner towards police on the same date at Howe Moss Crescent.
Iain McGregor, Burnside’s solicitor, said his client had initially pled guilty to the charge on an art and part basis, acting along with Burke, before Burke’s not guilty pleas were later accepted.
‘The only thing I can do in the circumstances is admonish you’
He said: “He doesn’t accept that he personally did everything in the charge.”
The lawyer went on: “What’s happened here is they got the wrong house.
“The complainer offered to show ID which was rejected by the accused.
“It would seem as if Mr Burnside, at some point, decided enough was enough and they should leave.”
Sheriff Janys Scott QC said: “This must have been a terrifying experience.”
She pointed out that Burnside had been remanded in custody over the matter for the equivalent of an eight or nine-month sentence.
She added: “The only thing I can do in the circumstances is admonish you.”
In relation to Burke, the sheriff imposed a £420 fine, but with no time to pay being sought, he was ordered to serve the alternative of 14 days in prison.
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