An Aberdeen woman contacted a teenager on Snapchat who she believed was bullying another child and told her she was going to come to her home and violently assault her.
Jemma Simpson appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where she admitted making a series of terrifying threats to the 15-year-old girl on social media – including telling her she would have to “dig her own grave”.
The court heard Simpson, 29, added the child to a Snapchat group that included some of her school friends and warned them she was going to “smash” them one by one.
She then told the girl she was going to “feed her face into the concrete”.
The mum of Simpson’s victim strongly denied that her daughter was a bully – branding the claim “utter lies”.
‘Feed your face to the concrete’
Fiscal depute Georgia Laird told the court that at around 1pm on November 25 2022, Simpson set up a group on the social media app Snapchat before adding the 4th year pupil and a number of her school friends.
Simpson then sent various voice recordings to the group referencing the 15-year-old girl.
One message stated: “I’m just going to meet you for a straightener,” while another warned all the girls she was going to “smash” them “one by one”.
Speaking to the teenage girl directly, Simpson told her she would be coming to her door, before adding: “I’ll feed your face to the concrete.”
“Get a shovel because you have got to dig your own grave,” Simpson threatened.
Frightened and alarmed by this series of messages, the girl told her mum who reported Simpson to the police.
In the dock, Simpson pleaded guilty to sending online messages that were menacing, in that she made numerous threats of violence to the schoolgirl.
Bullying claim ‘utter lies’, says mum
Defence solicitor Lynn Bentley told the court that her client “accepted that it was her voice” in the messages that were sent via Snapchat.
The solicitor added that a child – who Simpson knows as a distant relation – had been “the victim of relentless bullying” by the teenager she sent the messages to “and her friends”.
“There’s no suggestion that there has been any repetition of what happened in November 2022 – she has kept away and has had no further contact,” Ms Bentley said.
“Ms Simpson accepts that she was totally wrong to get involved and totally regrets the matter.”
Describing the whole incident as “bizarre”, Sheriff Donald Ferguson told Simpson the situation should “never have happened”.
“The authorities should be doing something about this situation, but you should not have taken the matter into your own hands,” he added.
Sheriff Ferguson ordered Simpson, of North Anderson Drive, Aberdeen, to be of good behaviour for six months.
Speaking after the court case, the mum of the victim strongly denied that her daughter was a bully.
She said: “My daughter was the one being bullied and harassed by Jemma and her relative. She simply stood up for herself. To say in court that she was the bully is a disgrace – it’s complete and utter lies.”
For all the latest court cases in Aberdeen as well as crime and breaking incidents, join our Facebook group.
