A MAN has been jailed for brandishing a knife in a Rosyth street and challenging his neighbour to fight.

Darren Toshack, 22, of 109 Paul Street, Lochgelly, spent 45 minutes banging on his girlfriend’s door at 5.30am and later got into an argument when a neighbour asked him to keep the noise down, producing a knife and saying: “Come on then”.

Appearing at Dunfermline Sheriff Court last Wednesday, Toshack admitted that on December 27 at Sherbrooke Road, Rosyth, he conducted himself in a disorderly manner, made excessive noise and thereafter shouted, threatened violence and brandished a knife, spoiling for a fight and committing a breach of the peace.

Depute fiscal Fiona Nairn said Toshack had been living in Sherbrooke Road with his mother.

“At 5.30am, a neighbour that lives opposite observed the accused banging on the front door of his girlfriend’s address,” she said. “He continued banging on the door for approximately 45 minutes.

“At 6.15 am, the next-door neighbour was woken with the sound of glass smashing. She looked out her window and observed the accused running away.”

Later in the morning, around 8.30am, the neighbour who lives opposite went to the front door and asked Toshack to keep the noise down as his five-year-old daughter was still sleeping.

A small argument then ensued between the two and the neighbour saw Toshack had a knife in his tracksuit trouser pocket, which he removed and shouted: “Come on then”. Toshack walked towards the neighbour’s home and the neighbour contacted the police.

Defence solicitor Gordon Martin said: “He has realised that perhaps alcohol and Darren Toshack shouldn’t be mixed together and has not consumed any alcohol since.

“He was under the influence of alcohol trying to get into his girlfriend’s house and past problems with the neighbour have caused this falling out on this particular occasion.”

Sheriff Charles Macnair said Toshack’s behaviour was of “considerable nuisance” to his neighbours.

“This sort of behaviour could well have been dealt with by some form of community payback order,” he said. “However, the offence escalated significantly when you produced a knife and challenged your neighbour to a fight.

“Producing a knife and threatening someone to a fight, particularly when someone is drunk, escalates the offence to a very high level. If someone is so drunk they can’t remember what they did, it’s very easy to foresee that the knife could get used and that would have escalated from a breach of the peace to a high court murder.

“It must be made clear that brandishing knives in these sort of circumstances is not to be tolerated.”

He sentenced Toshack to 160 days in prison.