Wick trial told of 'hundreds of abusive messages' left on woman's phone

A woman told a court of how she escaped “an awful” relationship only to be dogged by her "violent" ex after she found a new partner.

The woman said her former boyfriend, Alan Bain, followed her and her partner on occasions and also bombarded her with abusive phone calls and texts.

She told Sheriff Donald Ferguson that she was constantly "on edge" and that it felt as if she was “walking on eggshells” each day.

Wick Sheriff Court heard that she ended a nine-year relationship with off-shore worker Bain in 2018. She described her time with him as "very violent" and admitted to having been "scared, every day".

The woman described an incident after Keiss Gala in summer 2011. She was pregnant at the time.

She accompanied Bain to the village hall. He was drinking heavily and afterwards he said he wanted to go on and make a night of it, as it was his first time home for a while after an offshore shift. They left the hall but after a short distance, she said it was late and she wanted to go home.

She said: "Bain told me he wanted to enjoy the night with friends. He came close, nose-to-nose with me, and was screaming in my face. He was upset and very drunk. He said he deserved a night-out and that I was being selfish and was ruining his night. He was walking around in circles before he lunged towards me and put his hands on my shoulders. He pushed me and I stumbled back. Folk came out from nearby houses and one of them intervened."

The woman said she moved away and started to get a sore belly and a sick feeling. An ambulance was summoned and she waited for it at the side of the road. "Bain told those present not to believe me and said I was exaggerating."

Asked about her experience of her time with Bain, she said that the accused shouted at her almost every day, and continued: "He said I was useless and I was unattractive because I had a big belly."

The couple separated in April 2018 and the woman informed Bain she was leaving him on Facebook. Shortly after that she moved in with another man.

She was asked by Fiscal Sue Foard about messages she received from Bain, and replied that there were hundreds of phone calls and texts.

She went on: "He would leave horrible, abusive messages on my landline day and night... at all hours."

She told the court that Bain drove past the house on occasions and followed her new partner and herself to local shops and sometimes for no reason at all. The accused also requested the police to make welfare checks on her family, which revealed nothing untoward.

Asked about Bain's behaviour after she split with him, the woman said: "I didn't feel I had actually left a controlling relationship because he was always there, with phone calls or turning up at my door. I was walking on eggshells, every day. I didn't know when he was going to turn up or what he was going to do next."

She said that on one occasion Bain had told her: "I will always be watching you, I have eyes everywhere. I will always know what you are doing."

Bain (34), whose address was given in court papers at Sooth, Keiss, denies charges of stalking and abusive behaviour.

His solicitor Ruth Wallace has entered two special defences of alibi. The trial continues.