A Peterhead man embarked on a campaign of threatening behaviour against his neighbours when they failed to wish him a good morning, a court has been told.
David Mcmenemie, 70, inserted himself into a rift between two sets of warring neighbours and began targeting one because they had not greeted him in the days beforehand.
It led to a CCTV cameras going up and Mcmenemie taking aim at Keith and Ross Barney-Whyte with threatening remarks, shouts, and swearing for more than a month between September 14 and October 31 last year.
Appearing at Peterhead Sheriff Court on Monday, he was admonished for his actions by Sheriff David Mackie.
Snub at the root of row, court told
Fiscal depute Kirsty Martin told the court that Mcmenemie, of Queen Street, had approached Keith and Ross Barney-Whyte over their alleged snub and began making threatening remarks on September 14.
She said: “The accused stated that he had a problem with Keith Barney-Whyte as he didn’t say ‘good morning’ to them previously.
“The accused swore at the complainers and made comments such as ‘you haven’t seen us in action yet’ and that they would be going up against five of them.
“The accused also stated to Ross Barney-Whyte that he should grow up when he asked the accused to stop swearing.”
His behaviour continued the next day when one of the men tried to speak to him and was greeted by the comment: “You are very brave choosing this path.”
Ms Martin added: “From this point on, and on several occasions, the accused exited his property whenever the complainers were coming or going from the locus, or when they were smoking in the shared communal area.
“The accused would not say anything to the complainers, but stand and stare at them and return to his property when they returned to theirs.
“This caused Ross Barney-Whyte to sit in his car out of fear and wait for Keith Barney-Whyte to leave the locus and support him in.”
The couple eventually installed their own CCTV camera and moved to stay with a friend for about a week to “let things settle”.
But when they returned, however, Mcmenemie’s behaviour picked back up.
Police ultimately attended to seize CCTV footage on October 31.
The Barney-Whytes have since left the area.
‘Conversation didn’t go down well’
Mcmenemie’s defence solicitor, Stuart Flowerdew, painted a different picture of events to the one narrated by the fiscal depute.
He said matters came to a head when the 70-year-old tried to de-escalate matters between the Barney-Whytes and their upstairs neighbour.
“He’s never had any cause to be spoken to by the police,” Mr Flowerdew said.
“Indeed, this is a man who, throughout his working life, held various positions of respect and authority. He was involved in various aspects of the construction industry.
“The first interaction that Mr Mcmenemie directly had, as described by my friend, in fact began as an effort to try and conciliate because [they] had reported the upstairs neighbours to the police and the police had been round.
“He wanted to suggest there was a better way to resolve their various outstanding issues.
“That conversation didn’t go down well and raised the temperature, and that led to a series of problems.”
‘Sad example of a neighbour dispute’
Sentencing Mcmenemie, Sheriff Mackie said he was “satisfied” the courts would likely never hear from him again.
“It’s sad indeed you find yourself here today at this stage in your life without ever having been before the courts at all for any conceivable reason,” he said.
“This is a sad example of a neighbour dispute that has descended into this prosecution.
“From the account I’ve heard from the Crown, I’ve come to the conclusion the prosecution was quite appropriate and your plea of guilty is appropriate.
“I take account, though, of many very strong mitigating factors.
“I’m quite satisfied that the court need not be concerned that you will present any difficulty to society in the future.
“Taking account of all these factors, you are admonished.”
In Scottish courts, an admonition is recorded as a conviction on the accused’s criminal record and no other penalty, such as a fine or community payback order, is given.