After being found with two knives, Alex Skippon claimed he planned to stab his stepfather in the throat and laugh while he bled to death.
The 20-year-old, of Park Crescent, Newtown St Boswells, admitted having two utility knives on the A699 near Selkirk and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner on September 8.
At an earlier hearing, prosecutor Graham Fraser told how Skippon was heard shouting outside an address at about 2.15pm.
Mr Fraser said Skippon shouted: “Come on, let’s see if you get the better of me now”, adding: “I’ll see you in the ground.” He threatened to “batter” and “kill” his stepfather. The prosecutor went on: “He was handcuffed by police, but continued shouting, ‘I’m going to f*****g kill you’.”
When police searched Skippon, he was asked if he had anything in his pockets and replied: “Aye, a chib for that c**t.” A utility knife was found, along with a similar one in a rucksack he had left in a nearby lay-by.
Skippon continued to threaten his stepfather, adding: “You better watch your back, Barry. I’ll slit you like an envelope.”
Scott Mackenzie, defending, said his client had difficulties in his relationship with his mother and stepfather.
He added: “He had not attended at the address with any intention of seeking them out, but woke up at a friend’s house in Selkirk, bought alcohol and walked up the hill to consume it. There was no premeditated intention to attend at the house.
“He had one Valium tablet and then bought cider from a local shop, which he planned to drink on the hill and then return home. The route to where he was staying went past the house, and he was drunk.”
Sheriff Kevin Drummond had previously deferred sentence for a psychiatric report, commenting that the social enquiry report before him was “the most worrying” he had ever read. On Monday, Sheriff Peter Paterson deferred sentence until December 16 for a restriction-of-liberty assessment.