6 days ago
Fife man told he was not best 'diplomat' in neighbour dispute after battering victim unconscious
A thuggish Fife 'diplomat' who waded into his friend's neighbour dispute has been jailed after breaking his victim's kneecap.
Joshua Reid knocked the man unconscious and then kicked him while he was down during the bitter dispute in Cupar.
The pair had become involved in an altercation after Reid was caught on a doorbell camera, booting his victim's front door.
The 29-year-old, who has a long record of violent offending, was locked up for two years.
Sheriff Tim Niven-Smith labelled his assault 'a reprehensible kicking of a person who was on the ground unconscious'.
He said: 'He has a formidable record.
'Mr Reid is perhaps not the best person to be the diplomat standing his propensity to become agitated.'
Reid was brought from prison to Dundee Sheriff Court to admit threatening or abusive behaviour and severely injuring the man he assaulted.
Prosecutor Emma Farmer explained Reid's friend was subject to an ongoing neighbour dispute with another resident in a block of flats at Kinloss Park in Cupar.
Reid came to the man's attention when he was caught on his Blink doorbell, kicking his front door.
The pair became embroiled in an altercation and Reid punched him three or four times, causing him to fall to the ground and lose consciousness.
Reid kicked the stricken 45-year-old and when he regained consciousness, he was in 'excruciating pain' and unable to stand.
He went to Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy and was found to have a fractured patella, a fractured finger, bruising to his head and a cut to his eye.
He underwent surgery the next day and left hospital with a stent and staples.
Solicitor David Bell said: 'There seemed to be an ongoing dispute.
'My client's position is (his friend) had relayed to him that he had been repeatedly suffering what I could euphemistically describe as anti-social behaviour.
'He's gone to his door. They do come together outside, there is an altercation.'
Mr Bell said his client believed he had been struck with a knuckleduster during the incident.
'He put his hand on his head, he saw there was blood.
'My client, having looked up and saw something, he accepts he continued with the altercation.
'Mr Reid has spend much of his adult life in custody.'
The court heard Reid, who began offending at 15, has previously been jailed for violent offending.
His criminal record includes stabbing his partner's thigh, attacking his own mum hours after a family funeral and waving a knife at a neighbour who accused him of failing to clean up dog dirt.
His latest offence was committed two weeks after he had been released on bail for a domestic assault, for which he has since been fined.
Reid, whose address was given in court as Perth Prison, has been on remand since appearing in court on March 10.
