Self defence is accepted in golf club assault case
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A WAREHOUSEMAN who struck a drink and drug-fuelled intruder in his garden with a golf club has been cleared of assault.
Phillip Noble (55) told Inverness Sheriff Court he feared for his own safety and that of his partner when he found teenager Reece Taylor in the driveway of his house in Bruce Gardens, Dalneigh on the evening of January 24 last year.
Noble was charged with repeatedly pushing Mr Taylor, striking him on the body with the golf club and knocking him to the ground.
The New Zealander, who has lived in the UK for 32 years, pleaded not guilty and lodged a special defence of self-defence, saying he had feared the teenager may have had a knife in his hand.
Sheriff David Sutherland heard Mr Taylor, now 19, had been drinking Buckfast, whisky and vodka and had taken ecstasy.
He said he could remember nothing about the incident.
He was hospitalised and treated for two wounds to his body as a result of blows struck by Noble with the shaft of the club. This was after it snapped following an initial blow landed on Mr Taylor’s shoulder.
Two witnesses, 20-year-old Craig Napier and 53-year-old Steven Schofield, told the court they first saw Mr Taylor lying in the street in nearby Laurel Avenue then acting bizarrely before he entered Noble’s garden.
Both said he seemed to be under the influence of something.
Mr Schofield said he thought the victim seemed to be having a fit, and when he got to his feet he followed him for his own safety before he entered Noble’s garden. An ambulance had already been called.
Noble’s partner Fiona McLellan (47) said they had been watching TV and were ready to go to bed when she saw Mr Taylor come into their driveway.
She went to the door and shouted at him to leave but he walked towards her partner’s car.
Noble said he thought he was “keying” the bodywork of the vehicle with a knife or a key because he could hear a screeching noise.
He saw Mr Napier and another youth and mistakenly thought they were friends of Mr Taylor, so went back inside and got the golf club, brandishing it in an attempt to warn them all off. He then approached Mr Taylor and tried to get him in a headlock, to escort him off his property.
A struggle ensued and he admitted that, after breaking the club over his shoulder, he struck Mr Taylor twice with the broken shaft of the club.
Mr Taylor, an apprentice roofer, said he had been out with friends and his memory was blurred.
In hospital he was treated for a slash to his chest and other cuts and bruising.
Finding the charge not proven Sheriff Sutherland said it was a complex and difficult case that turned on what the accused told police about going outside to get Mr Taylor off his property and not seeing what he had in his hand.
The sheriff said it was clear that the victim was heavily under the influence of drink and drugs at the time and it was difficult to measure whether excessive force had been used in the face of the unpredictable threat the accused was then facing.
Afterwards Noble said he was simply relieved by the verdict and the fact that the case was now over.
“We have lived in Dalneigh for 18 months and unfortunately it’s quite rife with drink or drugs and you don’t know who’s coming on to your property,” he said.
“I just wanted him to leave.”
He said he didn’t know the other youths in the street weren’t with Mr Taylor.
“I’ve heard he has an apprenticeship now so I hope he has sorted himself out,” he added.
