A disabled man robbed of £3,500 was subjected to such a horrific beating that he feigned unconsciousness in the hope it would end.
Michelle Quinn befriended her victim in an Aberdeen shop before returning to his Balnagask Circle home where she made off with a huge bundle of cash, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
Just four months later Quinn returned to her victim’s home, this time with an accomplice, and carried out the horrific beating.
Fiscal depute Alison Reid said Quinn’s apparently innocent visit to the man’s home on June 14 last year quickly turned aggressive as she demanded: “where’s your money? where’s your money?”
Her victim, who has mobility issues, had thousands of pounds stored around the property and Quinn, 39, made quick work finding it, eventually fleeing with around £3,500.
Ms Reid said: “The complainer had been storing a significant quantity of cash in his home since the Post Office closed his account about a month prior to the incident.
“He was worried she would locate this money and she repeatedly pushed him on the body and struggled with him.
“She fled the locus, taking with her a bundle of cash, containing approximately £3,000 to £3,500, and leaving some £20 notes strewn across the floor as she departed.”
Quinn was identified from CCTV and traced hours later on Union Street but with just £218.31 left.
Targeted man a second time
She was charged with the crime and bail conditions were put in place to keep her away from her victim, however, on October 16, Quinn returned to the same man’s flat.
Armed with scissors and a glass bottle, she and Neil Wilson, 35, pushed the man to the ground and forced their way into his home shouting “where are the keys to your safe?”
At one point Wilson repeatedly punched the man on the head and body before striking him over the head with a glass bottle, as Quinn searched the flat.
When they swapped roles, Quinn took over the assault which continued despite the man feigning unconsciousness.
The court was told: “She held a pair of scissors against his body and forcefully pushed them into his body while asking ‘do you want stabbed?’
“The man pretended to pass out so that the accused would stop assaulting him but this was unsuccessful.”
Wilson rained down further blows on the man with his fists and the bottle before a passing neighbour heard his cries for help, spied the attack through the doorway and called 999.
Quinn and Wilson made off through a bedroom window with just £30-£40 in loose change, 15 cans of lager and the man’s keys and mobile phone.
Both pled guilty to charges of assault and robbery and assault to injury and robbery when they appeared in the dock from custody at HMP Grampian, with Quinn’s solo armed robbery of an Xbox gamer also being read to the court.
Sheriff Ian Wallace deferred sentence on Quinn and Wilson, both prisoners at HMP Grampian, until next month.
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