A MAN brandished a knife at police office and threatened a reception worker at the Joint Hospital in Dumbarton, a court has heard.

Christopher Carmouche shouted, swore and threatened a member of staff at the hospital with violence before repeatedly spitting on the windows of the building.

And later that day, at his then home address in Renton, he repeatedly shouted, swore and then brandished a knife at police officers.

Carmouche, of Colquhoun Drive in Rosshead, will return to court later this month to be sentenced.

David McDonald, prosecuting, told Dumbarton Sheriff Court that 35-year-old Carmouche had gone to the hospital for a consultation with the charge nurse shortly before 11am on June 28, and had spoken to a member of staff working in the reception area.

Mr McDonald said: “She became aware the accused was agitated. He began to shout and swear and made what he perceived to be a threat, saying: 'You're just sitting there waiting to get head-butted through the glass.'

“The accused was noted to be frantic, gesticulating wildly with his hands.

“The charge nurse overheard the disturbance and was concerned for staff and service users. She believed she could calm him down as she had worked with him in the past, and attempted to escort him to an empty room, but he would not engage, and continued to act in a threatening manner, gesticulating wildly, shouting and swearing.

“The charge nurse told him to leave and said if he did not do so she would call the police.

“He refused, shouting: 'Nobody cares about me. Phone them. Who cares?'”

The police were called, but by this time Carmouche had left the building, only to immediately return, when he repeatedly spat on windows outside the clinic; by the time police arrived he had left the scene.

Police then received a separate call at 12.30pm, reporting a disturbance at Carmouche's then home address at Tontine Park in Renton.

Mr McDonald said: “Officers opened the unlocked front door, entered, and saw a large black-handled kitchen knife with a flat blade of 8-10 inches, which was stuck by the point in the floorboards.

“One officer shouted to the accused to identify himself, and the accused ran from a room shouting 'f*** off, you need a warrant, get to f*** out my house'.

“The accused grabbed the knife from the floor. Police told him to drop it but he refused and continued to hold it in front of himself at chest height before moving towards the officers.”

Police deployed an incapacitant spray towards Carmouche's face and again told him to drop the knife but he still refused to do so.

Two other officers then arrived and saw Carmouche holding the knife in one hand and holding his face in the other; he was told for a third time to drop the knife and this time did so.

Mr McDonald said Carmouche had been between six and eight feet from the officers when the spray was deployed.

Carmouche's solicitor, Tom Brown, said his client had committed the offences “at a time when he was in need of treatment”, but said he would reserve his full plea in mitigation until the sentencing hearing.

Deferring until February 28 for a social work report and 'restriction of liberty order' assessment, Sheriff Maxwell Hendry said: “Your record is bad, spread over a lengthy period, but there is no particularly recent offending of any note.

“My starting point for anyone who approaches police officers with a knife has to be custody. I will allow you your liberty for the preparation of these reports, but you shouldn't read anything into that.”