Man battered armed trio who arrived at his door with sword

Terence Dale (60) pleaded guilty on the third day of a jury trial in March to assaulting one of the men to his severe injury.

He admitted striking the man, Mark Higgins, on the head from behind, repeatedly punching him on the head, and striking him repeatedly with knives – all under provocation.

Dale, of Kirkcaldy, appeared for sentence at Falkirk Sheriff Court by video link from Perth Prison, where the court heard he had already served the equivalent of a four-month sentence on remand.

Solicitor Dewar Spence, defending, said Dale, whose last conviction was in 2007, had been drawn into a “stramash” when the men arrived at his home in Cairns Street West. The incident occurred on March 12, 2019.

Mr Spence said: “The Crown accepted that the weapons were brought to the house by the complainers, and were not the property of the accused.

“Mr Dale was in his house, minding his own business, and people seem to arrive at his house and there appears to be a stramash of some description. There was fighting going on, Mr Dale was involved in that, and somebody jumps out of a window having set fire to items within the household.”

Sheriff Jamie Gilchrist QC said: “I have to say that after having listened to however many hours of evidence, the dynamic of what happened was if anything less clear than it was at the start of the trial.

“The evidence was that there was some kind of incident in the house. It was very unclear who did what, and it was very unclear what the circumstances that led to the incident were.”

He said that the victim, Mr Higgins, had arrived with two men, one of whom was armed and was “clearly looking for trouble”.

Sheriff Gilchrist continued: “What wasn’t clear was how Mr Higgins ended up with a fractured eye socket, fractures to both wrists, and two very unpleasant slash wounds to his legs which had clearly been caused by a sharp instrument.

“In a sense that doesn’t matter, because Mr Dale has pled guilty to a charge of assault which resulted in the injuries I have narrated.

“He has admitted, albeit under provocation, that he is criminally responsible for an assault which resulted in extremely unpleasant injuries.”

He sentenced Dale to a restriction of liberty order, requiring him to wear a tag and remain at home under curfew between 7pm and 7am daily.

He told him that “significant injuries” had been inflicted on Mr Higgins.

He said: “The provocation was significant because the offence happened in your own home and because weapons were brought to your home by people looking for trouble.

“But the severity of the injury makes it clear that you went far too far in retaliation.

“The court has to treat that very seriously, not least because Mr Higgins, on the evidence, was not the principal troublemaker.

“But for the provocation aspect of this case you would be receiving a substantial prison sentence.”