A SCHIZOPHRENIC, who was convinced he was the Son of God and a future prime minister of the world, was sent to Carstairs without limit of time yesterday for scarring a minister for life at a Remembrance Day service.
Donald MacLeod felt he had the right to punish the Rev John MacPherson because he could see evil in his eyes.
At the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, MacLeod, 54, admitted that on November 10 last year at the service at Scourie in Sutherland he assaulted Mr MacPherson by striking him on the face with a knife to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement.
Mr Simon Di Rollo, advocate-depute, told the court that after his divorce in 1974 the accused had returned from the South of England to live with his parents in Scourie. He had lived on his own since his mother died last year.
About 30 people, including four children, had gathered at the village war memorial for the service. Before it began, MacLeod spoke to the minister who gave him a prayer book and there seemed to be no animosity between them.
However, towards the end of the two-minute silence, MacLeod, wearing military battle dress, marched three or four steps towards the minister and pulled out a knife.
He held it against the minister's left cheek and after a short pause drew the blade down his cheek.
Mr Di Rollo added: ''Nothing had been spoken until that was done, and MacLeod was then heard to say: 'Get behind me Satan, worker of iniquity'.''
MacLeod then walked away as horrified onlookers went to help Mr MacPherson, who needed a total of 16 stitches in two separate wounds.
When police arrested MacLeod at his house, he handed over a kitchen knife.
During an interview he told police that he had taken a dislike to the minister when he first saw him at the previous year's Remembrance service.
He had decided to ''get him'' and had bided his time before carrying out the assault.
He had no particular reason for disliking Mr MacPherson other than that MacLeod had ''vibes'' about him. The only other contact between the two men was when the minister visited MacLeod in August last year following the death of his mother.
Mr Di Rollo told the court that MacLeod had behaved strangely at the 1995 Remembrance Day service by placing a hunting knife on the war memorial as if he were laying a wreath.
The advocate-depute explained that the accused had a history of mental illness dating back to 1961 and had been a patient in several psychiatric hospitals in Scotland and England. He had attacked staff in one of the hospitals.
MacLeod suffered from schizophrenia which could be controlled by regular medication but he had suffered relapses when he stopped taking his medicine.
MacLeod had told a psychiatrist, Alison Thom, 31, that he had planned the attack on the minister for some time. He claimed to be upset because when Mr MacPherson visited a friend of his called Moira who was ill, he had allegedly told her it did not matter if she recovered physically because her soul would be ''damned to hell''.
MacLeod had also told her that he thought he was the Son of God, heard voices, and believed that one day he would be ''prime minister of the world''.
He could have beaten the minister with his fists but felt he had to ''mark'' him to avenge his friend Moira.
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