A grieving son who vented his frustration at the woman he blamed for his father’s death has been convicted of threatening behaviour.
The woman hid in a cupboard after hearing Declan McPhee, 24, shouting “you murdered my father” from her garden.
He also shouted that the woman “gave him methadone and killed him”, a court has heard.
McPhee appeared on videolink to Aberdeen Justice of the Peace court from the dock in Inverness as no JP court was available there at the time of the hearing.
He admitted a single charge of threatening or abusive behaviour.
Fiscal Depute Victoria Silver told the court that on September 5 2021 the woman was watching television in her bedroom in Kirkside, Alness, when she began to hear shouting and swearing coming from her garden.
The woman recognised McPhee’s voice and heard him say: “You murdered my father.”
‘Scared’ woman hid in cupboard
The woman “felt scared and proceeded to hide in a cupboard,” Ms Silver said.
Soon after the woman heard a smashing sound, which she believed to be the accused breaking her window, and called the police for assistance.
When she heard neighbours outside trying to calm the accused down she came out of the cupboard and went downstairs, where she found two living room windows had been broken.
Police turned up shortly after, and were told by McPhee to “Get to f***”.
When the woman shouted that McPhee had smashed her windows, he responded: “You f***ing killed my dad. F*** you b****. You gave my dad methadone and killed him.”
McPhee’s solicitor Rory Gowans said: “I think anything that I was about to say has pretty much been covered by the Crown.
‘Something did happen’
“There is a background here. Something did happen to Mr McPhee’s father about two years ago.
“Nothing was ever followed up. On the date in question, Mr McPhee was particularly upset and decided to take his frustrations out on the person he blamed for his father’s death.
“Clearly this is not acceptable.”
Mr Gowans said that McPhee: “Wishes to offer his apologies for his actions.”
McPhee was fined £270.
