A MAN was driven to attack a car belonging to his mother’s former partner after the family suffered years of abuse, a court has heard.

Alexandria resident Christopher Livey used an extendable baton to repeatedly strike the windscreen of the vehicle – but only after the car’s owner took a golf club from the boot and gestured towards him and his family.

Dumbarton Sheriff Court was told that the car’s owner, knowing the family was about to fly abroad on holiday, had said: “I hope your plane crashes.”

Livey’s solicitor, Phil Lafferty, told the court that the car’s owner accepted that he had provoked the incident – and said the row followed an incident earlier in the day when eggs were thrown at the window of the family’s home.

Livey, 20, had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner on June 4 – but in a highly unusual step, the sheriff on that day agreed not to record a criminal conviction against him.

That remained the case after the latest court hearing on January 12, when Mr Lafferty referred in detail to a social work report prepared after Livey’s previous appearance.

Mr Lafferty told the court: “There has been a largely abusive relationship between the complainer and my client’s mother, and my client also, who has been the subject of abusive behaviour throughout the relationship.

“Earlier there had been eggs thrown at the window. When the complainer reappeared, this was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“The corroborating witness confirms that the complainer was gesturing with the golf club saying ‘I hope your plane crashes’.

“This was the tipping point of a long history of abusive behaviour.

“With hindsight, Mr Livey understands and accepts there was a different way of dealing with this, but in the heat of the moment, the influence of the drip-drip-drip effect of the abusive behaviour, over a period of years, cannot be overstated.”

Alasdair Shaw, prosecuting, told the court Livey had gestured towards the complainer “in a threatening manner, with his chest forward and his arms in the air”.

Mr Shaw said Livey had struck and smashed the near side passenger window and the rear windscreen with the baton in Carleith Avenue in Duntocher.

Police later traced Livey, who told them: “I’m not going to lie. I did hit the car.”

Mr Lafferty asked the court to wait before a final decision on the case, pointing out that his client works in the security sector and any conviction would be likely to affect his employment.

Mr Lafferty said: “The report does indicate this type of behaviour is very out of character.

“There is every indication that he was pushed towards a reaction.

“When the complainer got into his car he made a motion suggestive of driving towards Mr Livey’s car as if to ram it.

“That didn’t happen, but it fed into his behaviour.”

Referring to the possibility of Livey being discharged without a conviction, Mr Lafferty said: “I’ve made it clear to him that such a disposal is a very rare one.

“I’ve given him no reasons to make any assumptions whatsoever.”

Sheriff William Gallacher adjourned the diet until April 6 for Livey, of Main Street in Alexandria, to be of good behaviour.

The sheriff said: “This court has heard that matters of this nature sometimes appear in a domestic setting with a considerable background.

“What is described is insidious behaviour.

“It may well be that you were driven to this point by that background.

“I’m going to adjourn the diet for three months and I expect to hear then that you have been out of trouble.”