Man jailed after “crack cocaine” knife threat

Michael Mackenzie, 36, whose address was given as 95 Seaforth Road, Stornoway, appearing on indictment, was given a sentence of six months, reduced from nine for a guilty plea, on the charge of having a knife at Plantation Road on 25 February last year.

He was also given a ten month sentence, reduced from 12 for a guilty plea, on a charge of behaving “in a threatening or abusive manner which was likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear or alarm”. The sentences will run concurrently.

The court heard that trouble started over the course of the previous evening when Mackenzie was visiting the woman and another witness at a house on Plantation Road.

He returned at around 1.25 a.m with “loud and aggressive knocking at the door”. When the woman answered the door, he made reference to his girlfriend and she asked him to leave “as she was concerned for her children”.

He pulled a knife from his pocket and brandished it towards the woman “with the blade facing a couple of inches from her stomach”.

She jumped inside and locked the door which he started kicking with force while shouting and swearing. While this was going on, she phoned the police.

The court heard that the woman believed the accused was under the influence of a substance “due to white foam being present around his mouth on speaking to her”.

When police arrived, he acted aggressively towards them and they also were “of the opinion that the accused appeared to be under the influence of a substance”.

On being handcuffed, Mr Mackenzie shouted obscenities and repeatedly stated to police: “I will kill you all”. He continued to be aggressive as he was taken to Stornoway Police Station, kicking and head-butting the van and repeatedly shouting and swearing.

When police returned to the scene of the arrest they found the knife on the pavement.Solicitor Ellen Macdonald asked Sheriff Gordon Lamont to consider alternatives to a custodial sentence

… and said her client had “a longstanding problem in his life, first with drink which he did overcome and more recently with drugs”.

She said he “acknowledges candidly” that he and the woman in the house “were taking crack cocaine together” and had argued about “who had spent what on drugs”.

She also claimed threats had been made against Mackenzie’s partner on the night in question and he returned to the house “with a view to confronting” the woman about this.

Ms Macdonald said her client was “so heavily under the influence of drugs that he doesn’t even remember taking the knife with him but he acknowledges he must have”. She added: “In the cold light of day he can see that this was a grave error.”

When police caught up with Mackenzie, “he managed to make matters worse”. Ms Macdonald said Mackenzie’s life was “more stable and more settled” now and there had been changes to his behaviour since September 2024. She added: “Mr Mackenzie is well aware of the seriousness of these matters.”

Sheriff Lamont said he had listened to what had been said “very ably on your behalf but nevertheless this is the type of offence in my view for which there is no alternative but a custodial sentence”.

He pointed out there had been children on the premises and noted the threats to police as well as previous convictions, including “a history of non-compliance with court orders”.

Mackenzie also received a non-harassment order, for three years, being ordered to keep away from the woman and Plantation Road.