Dundee pitchfork bus attacker sent to counselling instead of jail
A man who tried to puncture the tyres of a Dundee bus with a pitchfork has been spared jail and sent for alcohol counselling instead.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard Gordon Duncan was thrown off the service after he tried to board it while carrying the garden implement.
Sheriff Richard Davidson deferred sentence on the 55-year-old for a report from Tayside Council on Alcohol.
He told Duncan he would avoid jail if he took part in counselling with them.
The court had heard the 55-year-old has lost his temper when told to get off the bus at Ninewell's hospital and began battering the glass separating the driver from passengers with his hand.
Duncan then got off and started smashing the fork off the side of the bus, before witnesses saw him trying to stab the front tyres with the tool.
Police were called, with Duncan later telling them: "I just wanted to get the fork home."
Duncan's lawyer had said he had borrowed the pitchfork from Dundee College and was trying to take it to a church in the city where he was going to help a minister on an allotment.
Duncan, from Dundee, pleaded guilty to a charge of breach of the peace.
His not guilty plea to a charge of possessing an offensive weapon was accepted by the Crown.
Defence lawyer Theo Finlay said: "He had intended to go to Menzieshill Parish Church to help the minister who has an allotment there.
"He would be able to do community service."
Sheriff Davidson told Duncan: "Attacking a bus with a garden fork isn't clever, and you know it wasn't.
"I had a degree of sympathy for you as there was really no good reason why you weren't allowed on the bus but that kind of response simply won't do.
"I'd rather try to deal with your drink problem so I will send you to Tayside Council on Alcohol."