A pair who got involved in a vicious crack cocaine-induced baseball bat assault on their neighbour have been warned they are in the “last chance saloon”.
Callum Mathieson, 29, and Elizabeth Milne, 31, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where they admitted the assault at a flat in the Northfield area of the city.
During a hallway scuffle, Mathieson struck his neighbour across the head with a baseball bat.
Milne – who has a long record of previous convictions – then charged into the man’s flat and attacked him.
Pair were causing a disturbance
Fiscal depute Emma Evans told the court that at around 7pm on April 2 last year, Mathieson’s neighbour was in his home on Auchmill Road, Aberdeen, socialising with two friends when they heard loud voices out in the communal hallway.
They exited the flat and saw Mathieson holding a metal baseball bat.
Mathieson immediately began shouting and then lifted the baseball bat over his head and threatened to hit his neighbour with it.
As this was going on, Milne entered the man’s flat, pushing past one of his friends.
Mathieson then followed Milne into the flat and began shouting.
Out of the blue, Mathieson then struck his neighbour to the left side of his head with the baseball bat.
The injured man was in pain, but remained calm and tried to encourage both Milne and Mathieson to leave his home.
As he did so, Milne lunged at him and scratched his neck and pushed him up against a wall.
The neighbour managed to push Milne off him and the couple left the property.
Milne assaulted police
Police arrived and found Milne within the communal staircase, and she attempted to make off towards Mathieson’s address, which was on the top floor.
As the officers tried to speak with Mathieson, Milne became aggressive and refused to state whether she understood the caution as she was being arrested.
The officers tried to place her in handcuffs, but she went limp and grabbed one officer’s right wrist and struck out and kicked him in the thigh.
Milne was placed in leg restraints and as the offices lifted her out of the building she attempted to bite one of them on the wrist.
As Mathieson was arrested, he questioned why he would strike his neighbour with a baseball bat.
“I know him,” he added.
In the dock, Mathieson, of Lochside Drive, Aberdeen, pleaded guilty to one count of assault, one count of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner and an additional charge of being in possession of an offensive weapon.
Milne, of Persley Den View, Aberdeen, admitted three charges of assault and one charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
‘Unenviable record’
Mathison’s lawyer, Neil McRobert, told the court that this was during a period of his client’s life when he “wasn’t doing much else” apart from consuming crack cocaine and alcohol.
“Since this time, he has gone through a radical transformation and has stopped taking substances,” the solicitor said.
“However, his previous life has been catching up with him in terms of court cases.”
Milne’s defence solicitor, Tony Burgess, said that his client “doesn’t remember much” from that evening but had an aversion to males being in her “personal space”.
“The man did not deserve anything that happened to him, but she overreacted and that’s what happened,” he said.
Sheriff Janys Scott told Mathieson and Milne that they had “unenviable” criminal records.
She told Milne specifically that she was on “a precipice” and “in the last chance saloon” before making her subject to a community payback order for 18 months and ordered her to undertake 150 hours of unpaid work.
Sheriff Scott made Mathieson subject to an electronic tag for eight months.
For all the latest court cases in Aberdeen as well as crime and breaking incidents, join our Facebook group.