A man found himself in the dock on Valentine’s day after pushing his partner out of bed because she hogged the duvet.
Kenneth Mackinnon’s actions caused the woman to fall from the bed, hitting her face on a bedside cabinet and leaving her with a bloody nose and split lip.
The woman fled to a neighbour’s home following the incident and told police she did not wish to have any further contact with Mackinnon, 62.
Mackinnon, from Invergordon, appeared from custody at Inverness to admit a single charge of culpable and reckless conduct in relation to the incident on February 13.
Fiscal depute David Morton told the court that Mackinnon and the complainer were in a relationship and sharing a bed when the incident occurred.
‘Some issue with a blanket’
He said: “Something happened within the time that they were in bed together that caused Mr Mackinnon to push the complainer on the body
“This caused her to fall out of bed and in doing so she struck her face on a unit next to the bed that caused her nose to bleed as well as a split lip.
“Both parties may have been under the influence of alcohol. There may have been some issue with a blanket.”
He added: “The instruction given is that she didn’t wish to see him any longer.”
Defence solicitor Marc Dickson, for Mackinnon, told the court that the pair had been drinking at a friend’s house prior to the incident.
He said: “In the course of the night time Mr MacKinnon woke up because he was cold. It transpired that the complainer had pulled the duvet off him.
“He pulled the duvet and pushed her, it caused her to fall out of bed caused her to strike her head on a bedside cabinet.
Man wanted to ‘get back under the covers’
“He accepted exactly what had happened, he tried to pull the blanket back and pushed her at the same time so he could get back under the covers.”
Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald rejected the idea of a financial penalty, having heard that the couple currently have a shared benefit claim.
She added: “I don’t want her to have to pay for her own injury.”
She instead deferred sentence for three months to allow MacKinnon, of Kilmuir Place, Invergordon, to be of good behaviour and to clarify the pair’s positions in terms of the relationship and living arrangements.
