Wedding celebration on Mull ends in assault

A health and safety inspector has been fined £600 for assaulting his fiancée, after the couple got into an argument while celebrating finding a wedding venue on Mull.

Kevin Donald Maclean, 49, of Strom Vatn, Whiteness, Shetland, pleaded guilty to assaulting his partner at a hotel in Tobermory on July 23 this year.

‘The accused and complainer have known each other for 23 years,’ procurator fiscal Eoin McGinty told Oban Sheriff Court on Tuesday August 14. ‘They were engaged to be married. The accused and the complainer travelled from Shetland to Mull to look at various places to hold their wedding.

‘They began to argue. They went back to their room and the argument escalated. The accused grabbed her hair and pulled her from the bed onto the floor. Witnesses heard a female voice screaming, “Get off me!” They heard a crash. One person entered the room. The accused was sitting on the bed. The complainer could be heard round the corner sobbing. She was in distress.’

Maclean’s defence agent told the court he had no previous convictions and the matter was a ‘one-off’.

‘There have been no indications of domestic violence,’ she said. ‘He does not normally drink. There is no suggestion of substance abuse.

‘His memory is patchy due to alcohol. They were celebrating as they had picked their wedding venue. He does not know why but there was an argument.

‘They made up as soon as Mr Maclean was released from custody. She told me that she views it as a one-off. The wedding is very much on.

‘He works as a health and safety inspector in the oil industry. He is disgusted and embarrassed by his behaviour. He has never been involved with a court before.’

Sheriff Patrick Hughes said: ‘Normally this is a matter where I would consider custody. This is an unusual case where it is not necessary. It will need to be a one-off.’

Sheriff Hughes fined Maclean £600, reduced from £800 to take account of his guilty plea.