A YOUTH died after a street scuffle when the mobile phone slung on his belt was mistaken for a knife.
A judge heard how two brothers and a neighbour intervened when Sandy Ralton, 19, poured vodka over his girlfriend and threatened to set her on fire.
A freak injury from a ''minor'' blow with a baseball bat killed him. Yesterday Robert Cunningham, 37 - who wielded the bat - was jailed for five years at the High Court in Edinburgh. Andrew Ralston, 19 - who lashed out with a hammer after mistaking the mobile phone for a knife - was sentenced to four years' detention. Both men had admitted a charge of culpable homicide at an earlier hearing.
Andrew Ralston's brother, Craig, 23, who pleaded guilty to assaulting Mr Ralton to his severe injury - hitting him on the legs with a hammer - was jailed for four years.
The three, who had been on bail, had hoped to avoid jail because of the behaviour of Mr Ralton on the night he died. But Lady Cosgrove turned down pleas from defence lawyers to let the three do community service.
''The use of weapons cannot be tolerated,'' she told them.
At the earlier hearing, the court heard how the fight which killed Mr Ralton on May 8 last year had shocked nearby residents in Larkhall.
Cunningham's long-term partner, Linda Cavanagh, is the mother of Mr Ralton's girlfriend, Margaret. An argument began when Margaret tried to stop Mr Ralton shouting towards nearby houses. He poured vodka from a bottle he was holding over her hair.
Margaret's mother became involved when Mr Ralton threw a glass tumbler towards the garden where her granddaughter was playing. Joiner Craig Ralston, who had been fixing a new front door to his parents' home in Glen Avenue, arrived on the scene with a hammer and began hitting Mr Ralton on the legs.
Andrew Ralston, 19, then joined in. He saw the mobile phone on Mr Ralton's belt and, mistaking it for a knife, took a hammer from his brother's tool-box. Last to become involved was Cunningham who struck a single blow to Mr Ralton's neck with a baseball bat, Lady Cosgrove heard. Mr Ralton, of Kenshaw Avenue, Larkhall, was left bleeding on the ground. Neighbours tried to give him first aid but when ambulance paramedics arrived on the scene they found no signs of life. Doctors in Law Hospital were unable to save him, the court was told.
Mr Ralton's drinks level - twice the legal driving limit - could have contributed to his death by dulling his reflexes, they said.
Cunningham, of Glen Avenue, Larkhall; Craig Ralston, of Douglas Drive, Ashgill; and labourer Andrew Ralston, of Glen Avenue, Larkhall, had originally faced a charge of murdering Mr Ralton in Glen Avenue.
Alastair Campbell, QC, defence advocate for Cunningham, said there was a background of ''thoroughly bad behaviour'' on the part of Mr Ralton. Cunningham by contrast had called the police - but felt he had to intervene on behalf of his girlfriend and her daughter.
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