A chef sparked an armed police response after arming himself with two knives and threatening to stab soldiers following a row in a pub.
Tony Haynes had been drinking with friends in the Barrel pub in Ballater when he stormed out after a “heated” conversation with two soldiers from the nearby barracks.
But the 30-year-old was then seen emerging from his home across the road with a knife in each hand.
He was heard to say, “They don’t need to talk to me like that. I’m going to slit their throats”.
Fiscal depute David Ballock told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the incident happened around 11.30pm on July 21 last year.
‘I am going to stab them’
He said Haynes was speaking to one of his friends when “two other males joined the conversation”.
Mr Ballock explained: “The conversation became heated between the accused and the two males and shortly thereafter the accused left”.
A customer having a cigarette outside the bar saw Haynes leave and heard him say: “I had enough, I had enough of the c****. I am going to stab them”.
Asked who he was talking about, Haynes replied: “Them”.
Shortly afterward, one of Hayne’s friends was outside the pub when she saw him exit his home “with a knife in each hand”.
‘He has a serious problem with alcohol’
Mr Ballock told the court: “She went over to the accused, challenged him, and told him to go back inside.
“The accused replied, ‘They don’t need to talk to me like that. I’m going to slit their throats’ and made mention about stabbing ‘them’ in the chest.”
The woman then left Haynes and went to call the police, while Haynes returned to his address.
Numerous police units then attended, including armed officers, and Haynes was arrested and taken into custody.
Haynes, of Swann Place, Ballater, pled guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
His defence agent Gregor Kelly said: “Mr Haynes displayed little common sense that evening.
“The only common sense he did display was when speaking to his friend and heeding her advice and going back to his flat.
“He has a serious problem with alcohol. He’s holding down a prestigious job as a chef within a local bistro.”
‘You have come very close to imprisonment’
Mr Kelly went on: “There have historically been problems with local persons and the barracks with soldiers who were also drinking.
“A friend of his had received a severe beating from soldiers prior to this.”
The solicitor said his client’s threats were “hollow” and that he had been responding to what he took as “goading”.
Sheriff Graham Buchanan commented: “It appears it was only a very short period that he was outside on the street and he took the advice of his friend to go back inside”.
Addressing Haynes directly, the sheriff warned him: “You have come very, very close indeed to receiving a sentence of imprisonment”.
As a direct alternative, he ordered Haynes to be supervised for 18 months and complete 180 hours of unpaid work.
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