A nightmare neighbour in an Aberdeen high-rise confronted a mum who reported him to the council – then stabbed her husband in a lift.
Daniel Youngson first challenged the woman in a communal hallway of Grandholm Court, asking if she had complained about his persistent smoking in the shared area.
After confirming she had, the woman returned to her flat but the raging 32-year-old began shouting and kicking her door, leaving her “distressed and alarmed”.
Youngson later rang the neighbours’ Ring doorbell, which the woman’s husband answered remotely, and the pair argued over the accused’s violent outburst earlier.
The threatening neighbour then told the man: “I’m going to kill you. Come on then.”
And when the pair bumped into each other in a lift later, Youngson stabbed the man in the chest with a folding pocket knife.
‘Puncture wound’ to chest
Fiscal depute Lynne MacVicar told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that the couple lived at the flat with their one-year-old daughter.
Just after 7pm on June 11 this year, the woman, along with her daughter, returned home and encountered Youngson smoking in the communal hallway.
Ms MacVicar said: “He asked her if she had complained about him to Aberdeen City Council.
“She confirmed she had because he had been repeatedly smoking within the communal
hallway.”
The woman then went into her flat and closed the door, but Youngson began shouting and kicking the door, causing the baby to start crying and her mother to be “distressed and alarmed”.
She contacted the police and her husband, who said he would come back home.
Ms MacVicar said: “The accused then returned to the door and pressed the doorbell.
“This activated a call that was answered remotely by the husband, who was enraged that the accused had behaved in the aforementioned manner towards his wife.”
The men argued via the doorbell camera and Youngson told the woman’s husband: “I’m going to kill you. Come on then”.
He continued to shout and swear before eventually punching the doorbell.
Ms MacVicar told the court: “At around 7.15pm, the husband returned to the building and entered the lift.
“At this point, the accused was stood within the lift and appeared momentarily shocked to see him, before attempting to punch him repeatedly.
‘I’m going to kill you’
“During the struggle, the husband felt a pain to his left side and noted the accused was in possession of a knife.”
He grabbed Youngson’s wrist to stop him from striking him with the knife again.
Youngson again made a chilling threat, warning: “I’m going to kill you”.
As the pair struggled and the man tried to defend himself, he also managed to press the lift button for the second floor.
When the doors opened, the man’s wife immediately pulled him out of the lift and saw Youngson clutching the knife and still making threats to kill.
The pair managed to get back into their flat where they called an ambulance and the police.
The man was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where he was found to have suffered a 1cm puncture wound to the left side of his chest.
It pierced the skin but did not damage any muscle or internal organs.
Youngson’s knife victim also had a scratch to his left shoulder and injuries to his hands.
Ms MacVicar said: “They were both left terrified after this incident and feared for the husband’s life.
‘Thankfully it was a small knife’
“They intended to speak with the council to arrange to move flat because they are too
scared to remain living at the locus.”
Youngson pled guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner and admitted assault to severe injury.
Defence agent Laura Gracie said her client had initially approached the woman to apologise for any disturbance overnight, as he had family staying, but she hadn’t taken him on as he was smoking.
She said Youngson was then told to wait as the husband was on his way home, which “sparked” things off.
The solicitor explained that the knife was a “folding pocket knife”.
Sheriff Andrew Miller said: “Thankfully it was a small knife but, nonetheless, that act really elevated this incident beyond the point a community order could be justifiable.”
He jailed Youngson, a prisoner of HMP Grampian, for 18 months.
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