A doctor’s son started “hallucinating” and claimed he saw people in his back garden who were “ready to attack” the family home.
Shortly afterwards, 22-year-old Taimoor Khan was seen with a bow and arrow and said he was “going to protect the house,” his mother told Perth Sheriff Court.
Mrs Farhat Khan, of Carngael, Crieff Road, Almondbank, said her son had been behaving strangely and had repeatedly gone outside to the back garden.
She told the court how he “looked different.”
She added: “There was nobody in the garden - I didn’t see anyone - but he insisted.
“He was hallucinating in a way. There wasn’t anyone but he could see people.
“At one point he was carrying a bow and arrow. I was concerned.
“We tried to convince him there was no-one there but he wouldn’t listen.”
She was giving evidence at the trial of her son who was found guilty of acting aggressively and repeatedly shouting and swearing at their home on November 4 last year.
Part of the charge, which alleged he was in possession of a baseball bat - or similar instrument - at the time, was deleted.
Mrs Khan added: “He said he had seen people in the back garden and they were ready to attack the house - and he was going to protect the house.
“He was convinced there were people outside waiting to attack - and he was protecting us from these people.”
She described him at one point as “loud and scary” and he was swearing and acting aggressively.
There were two other children in the house at the time - and one was crying.
Her husband called the police and Taimoor was “removed” from the house.
Dr Jahangir Khan (51) said he had heard his son repeatedly going up and down the stairs and out to the garden, describing him as “agitated and hyper.”
“He was saying, basically, that there were people - strangers - walking though our back garden.
“I tried to persuade him ‘it’s all in your head’ but he was convinced there were people walking there.
“I was trying to persuade him ‘there’s no-one there’ but, at the same time, I was appreciating that these hallucinations were real to him.”
Dr Khan, who said he was familiar with the symptoms of amphetamine use, told the court he had called the police to get help for his son. He was “very distressed” it had ended up in court.
“In hindsight there may have been other ways of dealing with it but that’s where we are.”
Khan, whose address was previously given as the Resettlement Unit, Skinnergate, Perth, will be sentenced after a background report has been prepared.
He was remanded in custody meantime.
