A man who slashed the tyres of cars with a Rambo-style knife had only been released from prison 18 days before.
Alistair Sorrie, 43, was seen wandering down Oscar Road in Aberdeen before he plunged a large combat knife with a serrated blade into the tyres of a car and a van.
As Sorrie was pursued by police he stuck it into a glass verge and ran away from the officers.
His solicitor told the court that Sorrie had been unable to access drugs for a “football-sized abscess” on his leg and had self-medicated on the night in question.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that Sorrie, who has previous convictions for carrying offensive weapons, stabbed the tyres of a Hyundai i10 car and a Mercedes Sprinter van with the 24cm knife.
Accused hide knife under jacket he was carrying
Fiscal depute Alison Reid told the court that on June 22 this year Sorrie was seen walking onto Oscar Road while “shouting and acting in an agitated manner”.
“The accused walked past various motor vehicles parked there before a loud hissing noise was heard coming from the van,” she said.
“On reaching the second motor vehicle, the accused then removed the knife from underneath a jacket he was carrying.
“It was noted to be a large combat-style knife with a silver serrated blade and a brown handle.”
Ms Reid said Sorrie then used the knife to cut the near and front offside tyres of the Hyundai by forcing the pointed blade into the tyre wall.
He then hid the knife under his jacket and continued walking down the street.
Members of the public alerted the police who saw Sorrie near the White Cockade Pub and followed him down Glenbervie Road.
“They observed the accused remove the knife from under his jacket and stick it, blade first, into a grass verge”, Ms Reid said.
As officers arrested Sorrie he made a number of comments that the knife “wasn’t his” and that he had “found it”.
However, later he told police “I only had it on me as I was going to put it down the drain”.
Sorrie pleaded guilty to one charge of being in possession of a knife and two charges of wilfully or recklessly damaging property by stabbing the tyres of two cars.
‘He saw the knife and took it’
Defence agent Gail Goodfellow told the court that her client had only been released from prison 18 days prior to this incident.
She said: “Since his release, he had been suffering from an abscess on his leg that is the size of a football.
“He was not able to access homeless doctors and had resorted to his own medication and bought valium.
“He went to purchase it and while at the address he saw the knife and took it when he left.
“He has no recollection of his behaviour and is thoroughly ashamed of himself – but there’s no evidence that he intended to use the knife to cause personal injury.”
Sheriff Ian Wallace told Sorrie that the only disposal available was a custodial sentence.
He added: “This is a serious offence. If you go out in public out of control as you were with a knife then things can get out of hand very quickly.”
Sheriff Wallace sentenced Sorrie, whose address was given as HMP Grampian, to 20 months in prison backdated to June 14 this year.
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