Assault charge against deckhand not proven

A sheriff found a charge of assault against Fort William deckhand Jay Douglas not proven after a trial on Friday.

Douglas, 25, of Camanachd Crescent, had denied assaulting his then partner by grabbing her by the arm and pulling her.

The incident was alleged to have happened at the woman’s home in Lochaber on November 11 2017.

Giving evidence, the woman told the court the couple’s relationship had ‘become a bit toxic’ with plenty of arguments by the time of the alleged assault.

The woman told the court a row had flared up and she had wanted Douglas to leave the house.

Douglas’s version of events was that the woman had been trying to stop him from leaving and, worried she might physically attack him, he pushed her onto the bed.

‘He could have gone round me to get out of the room. He didn’t have to lay his hands on me,’ she said, adding that she had not fallen on the bed.

She had provided the police with photographs of bruising to her right arm, which she claimed were caused by Douglas grabbing her.

The court heard that, despite the incident, the relationship only came to an end nearly a year later, in August/ September 2018.

Under questioning from defence solicitor Stephen Kennedy, the 24-year-old woman denied the only reason she had made a complaint to the police 14 months later was because she had found out Douglas had spoken to police about her in connection with a separate matter.

There was only one other witness, who told the court the woman had come to see her after the alleged incident and had confided she had, in fact, tried to stop Douglas leaving and that he had pushed her onto the bed.

Procurator Fiscal Martina Eastwood told Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald there was other action Douglas could have taken other than physical contact. ‘This was not self defence,’ she said.

In his summing up, Mr Kennedy said: ‘It took 14 months for this to be reported to the police and the relationship had continued for some considerable time afterwards. Plus we have no idea when the photographs were taken.’

Finding the charge not proven, Sheriff MacDonald told Douglas: ‘This was some considerable time ago. But there are reasons why people do not immediately report an incident of assault, so that does not raise a doubt for me.

‘However, there must be proof of some physical contact with evil intent.

‘There is no doubt there was some physical contact but the intention and nature of that contact is where there is a doubt.’