A YOUTH who stabbed a complete stranger multiple times in Dumbarton told him “yer going to bleed out”.

Nathan Reid, 19, left his victim with blood running down his arm when he attacked, aided by an unknown teenager.

At Dumbarton Sheriff Court on November 15, he pleaded guilty to repeatedly punching the pan on the head and body, pinning him against a fence, repeatedly striking him with a sharp implement to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement.

The Crown deleted that the assault was to the danger of his life. Reid, of Napier Crescent, Dumbarton, was originally arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

The court heard how the male victim was with his partner at about 7.30pm on April 17, 2021 at a friend’s home in the town’s Barnhill Road. They were consuming alcohol and then left at about 9.20pm walking down towards Greenhead Road.

At the time, Reid was with his now ex partner and four other friends who were not identified. They had been drinking at the Clyde shore below Castlegreen Street for several hours and Reid then left to buy more booze.

An unidentified 15-year-old boy was with Reid at the time.

The victim and his partner spent a short time at the shore before deciding to turn back to their friend’s house.

At 9.50pm, they were taking the route back the way they came. As they were walking towards the main road, about 100 yards from the gates of the waterworks, they saw the torch of a mobile phone approaching them.

Reid and the teenager kept their lights trained on the pair approaching them.

They were shouting, “Who’s this” and “Who the f*** are you?”

The victim didn’t know Reid or the teen, said fiscal depute Caterina Ward.

They walked past Reid and the teenager approaching the gates when they shouted at the victim again.

The victim turned and his partner shouted to him to “leave it”.

Reid and the teenager started hitting the victim and “punches were thrown by all parties”.

The victim was pinned to the fence to the left of the track by Reid and the woman ran towards them and “dropped or threw” her can of beer at them.

She grabbed the teen by the hood and dragged him off. The victim managed to overpower Reid and he and the woman made off.

Reid shouted after them, “I hope you bleed oot and die” and “You’ve been stabbed and yer going to bleed oot”.

The victim and woman went past the railway bridge heading towards Glasgow Road. She was holding his hand and noticed blood running into her hand.

The victim said: “I’ve been stabbed.”

Meanwhile, Reid returned to his friends and told his then partner: “We need to go, we need to go.”

She wasn’t aware of why he was behaving that way.

Later at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, they found multiple abdominal stab wounds, including the shoulder and chest. But the weapon used was not known to prosecutors.

Reid handed himself in to police when he realised they were looking for him.

Sheriff Maxwell Hendry told Reid he was “not impressed” by his attitude when he first walked into the dock and showing levity to the seriousness of the charge.

He said: “I’m considering sending you to custody for a period that will be measured in years, not months. Given your age and maturity – or lack there of – I’m not going to remand you today.”

Sentence was deferred for reports until December 16.