An intoxicated man who wandered into the wrong home at 3am and threatened to kill his neighbour is hopeful of rebuilding their friendship, a court was told.
Alexander Nujant was discovered standing at the fridge in the middle of the night after he wandered into the wrong country cottage near Forres.
The 43-year-old then warned the homeowner, who was his neighbour of many years, “you’re dead” as he was taken away by police officers, Elgin Sheriff Court was told.
Fiscal depute Emma MacEwan said the homeowner was awoken at 3am on December 16 last year by the “unusual” barking of his two dogs and went downstairs to find Nujant in his conservatory and kitchen.
Found talking to himself and shouting incoherently
“He appeared to be standing talking to himself,” the fiscal said.
“The witness asked why he was there and told him to leave. The accused immediately became confrontational and began shouting incoherently at him.
“The witness retreated to another room and locked the door but the accused was shouting ‘let me in’ and kicking the door.
“The witness hid from view and noted the accused didn’t appear to be lucid and was heavily under the influence.”
The homeowner called the police as Nujant continued to try and get his attention, repeatedly saying that he “knew why he was there”.
Miss MacEwan added: “Police attended and noticed he was in possession of an item and they took him from the locus, at which point the accused shouted ‘you’re dead’ at his neighbour.”
A later search found Nujant in possession of 4.96g of cocaine, worth £200.
Behaviour is ‘very hard to explain’
Nujant admitted to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner and Class A drug possession.
Defence agent Matthew O’Neill said his client had been out and had made the “foolish decision” to buy the Class A drugs from someone.
“This behaviour is, I think even to Mr Nujant, very hard to explain,” the solicitor said. “He lives next door and they are two individuals who have always got on well.
“Mr Nujant has not had contact with his neighbour since the incident due to court conditions but he is hopeful that their friendship can be repaired in due course.”
He said Nujant thinks he thought he was in his own home.
‘He can only believe he had gone into his own home’
“He advises me he had been extremely intoxicated that evening and had been trying to make his way back to his own address.
“It’s not behaviour we are likely to see replicated.”
Sheriff Robert McDonald agreed that since Nujant had nothing analogous on his record he could deal with it as “a one-off event”.
Nujant, of Kintessack, Forres, was fined £740.
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