By A MAN plunged a knife into his own body in front of a months old boy before holding the tot in a house during a terrifying stand-off with cops.
The 26-year-old had broken down after rowing with the baby’s mother over money because he had lost his job.
And the financial worries came to a head when the former oil-rig worker showed up at the child’s grandmother’s home.
The drunken man then plunged a knife into his own abdomen before holding the knife to his face.
Frantic family members looked on horrified as the boozed-up and bloodied man seized hold of the baby and refused to let go.
Cops had to talk the man down from his agitated state until he finally gave-up the boy to its mother.
Wounds
He was rushed to hospital to treat his body and facial wounds and was kept in over night before being released and arrested.
And at Edinburgh Sheriff Court the man admitted a breach of the peace.
Fiscal depute Melanie Ward told the court how the man had lost his job on an oil-rig around seven months before the frightening incident on May 19.
Strain
Money worries had caused strains between him and his partner and police were called to an earlier argument.
Miss Ward said: “Police officers were instructed to attend at a different address earlier in the day in relation to an argument with his partner and the accused was asked to leave.
“His partner left her own address and went to see her mother.”
But the Edinburgh man showed up at address in the capital’s Drumbryden Gardens and began demanding to see the child.
Miss Ward said: “He was invited into the house to discuss their difficulties.
“At some point he picked up a knife and struck himself in the middle of the abdomen causing great distress to his partner and family members who were there.
“He held his knife against his face.”
Police raced to the scene and when they got there the man had the boy his arms.
“Rapport”
Miss Ward said officers had to build-up a “rapport” with the man and talk him into handing over the child.
The man was later taken to hospital where he was given stitches for two minor cuts and a puncture wound to his abdomen before being kept in overnight.
The man’s solicitor, John Good, said the incident had been “the build-up of months of stress and anxiety” for the man because of financial difficulties.
Mr Good said that a psychiatric report had shown that there were no ongoing mental health issues with the man and he was hoping to re-establish his released.
He added that the child was now eight or nine months old – making him around seven or eight months old at the time of the incident.
The man’s partner and his mother were in court and Mr Good said he could live with his mother for a time.
However Sheriff William Holligan said he wanted background reports to ensure that safeguards are in place to protect others involved before he released him.
Sheriff Holligan said: “I want to have the benefit of reports before I decide if I can appropriately dispose of this matter other than by way of custody.”
He deferred sentence on the man, who is currently remanded in HMP Edinburgh, and he will return to court later this month.
