A police firearms unit was dispatched to deal with a man who smashed a neighbour’s window with an axe, a court has heard.
Gavin Hampton then grabbed shards of broken glass, cutting his own hands, during the frightening incident in Gilbert Street, Inverness.
He later made threats against police officers who arrested him and became abusive with hospital staff trying to treat him, causing a scene in front of children at Raigmore Hospital’s A&E department.
Hampton, 24, appeared from custody at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit two charges of threatening or abusive behaviour and one of wilfully or recklessly destroying or damaging property.
Fiscal depute Pauline Gair told the court that the incident began at around 6.45pm on March 3 of this year, when the woman heard a man shouting outside her Gilbert Street home.
“She looked out and saw the accused, who is known to her, and opened the window to ask what was wrong with him,” she said.
Hampton spoke to the woman initially without issue but then “lost his temper and stormed off.”
“A couple of minutes later the accused returned carrying an axe,” Mrs Gair told Sheriff Robert Frazer.
Axe man smashed window
Hampton tapped the axe on the woman’s window, causing her to contact the police, but before they could arrive Hampton smashed the woman’s bedroom window and grabbed the broken glass, cutting his own hand.
Police response units, a firearms unit and operational support were dispatched to the scene and Hampton was arrested.
Due to his cut and bleeding hands, he was taken to Raigmore Hospital and during the journey made threats to an officer, telling him: “I will remember your face I will pull you when you are not in uniform in front of your wife and kids”.
At Raigmore he turned his anger towards medical staff, shouting at a doctor that “the only f***ing person you should be treating is me”.
He asked one staff member: “What the f*** are you looking at?” and tried to move towards them, but officers prevented him from lashing out.
‘A notable disturbance’
“The accused’s behaviour caused a notable disturbance with the hospital with members of the public, including small children, observing his behaviour,” Mrs Gair concluded.
Solicitor Rory Gowans, for Hampton, told the court that his client’s behaviour was driven by “unresolved trauma” conceding that his client’s actions had “serious undertones”.
He said Hampton was “now maturing” and was using his time in prison to undertake educational classes.
Sheriff Robert Frazer told Hampton: “Your record does you no favours” commenting on his previous convictions for crimes of violence and anti-social behaviour.
He called for a criminal justice social work report and deferred sentence to next month, remanding Hampton, currently a prisoner in Inverness, in the meantime.
