A north-east teacher cleared of domestic abuse has spoken of his relief that “the truth has finally been allowed to come to light”.
Timothy Browett, a physics teacher at Banchory Academy, was accused of subjecting his wife Dr Elisha Browett to a six-month campaign of controlling and abusive behaviour.
However, following a four-day trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, he was cleared of all the charges after a sheriff deemed that the Crown had failed to offer any “credible evidence of any domestic abuse”.
Teacher denied all the charges
Sheriff Eric Brown also said he was “not favourably impressed” by Mr Browett’s wife or her evidence.
He went on to criticise a “bizarre” video, which was played in court, in which Dr Browett, 37, can be seen questioning one of their children.
Mr Browett, 45, was accused of telling his wife he was entitled to her body, demanding to be served food by her, pushing her, and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner between January 1 and July 1 2022.
The trial, which stretched from November to April, heard of three specific incidents alleged to have been carried out by the father-of-four.
In his evidence, Mr Browett denied assaulting his wife, said he had never demanded sex from her and had only removed money from their joint bank account over fears she was going to use it to move to Canada with his children.
Video evidence branded ‘bizarre’
His wife told the court she had “taken the children and gone into hiding” out of fear of her husband.
However Sheriff Brown questioned her version of events after hearing details of the allegedly abusive text messages from Mr Browett.
The sheriff said: “How messages of this nature can be said to form part of abusive conduct is not at all clear to me. On the contrary, to me, it would appear to be a very fair response from a responsible parent.”
In his closing speech, Mr Browett’s defence agent Stuart Murray explained his decision to show the court a video in which Dr Browett filmed her youngest daughter being “coached” to make allegations against her father.
“It was indeed played to damage the credibility of the complainer because it speaks entirely to her credibility,” he said.
Those allegations in the video were investigated by police and no action was taken.
Sheriff Brown said: “The video can only be described as bizarre and quite extraordinary and apart from anything else it appears to me that child didn’t have a clue as to what was going on.”
Difficult to distinguish fact from ‘exaggeration and fabrication’
Sheriff Brown later added: “I was not favourably impressed by the complainer or her evidence.
“I found it difficult if not impossible to distinguish what may have been fact from what may have been exaggeration, fabrication or a distorted perception of reality.”
Sheriff Brown told fiscal depute Kirsty Martin that the Crown failed to provide corroboration of at least two incidents of abuse, and that was required for any statutory domestic abuse claim to stand up in court.
Finding Mr Browett not guilty he deemed his evidence “honest, credible and reliable” and said: “There is in my opinion no credible evidence of any domestic abuse by the accused.”
Teacher pleased truth has come out
Speaking outside court, Mr Browett told of his relief that he has been cleared of all the allegations.
He said: “I am pleased that the truth has been finally been allowed to come to light.
“It can be seen that all these allegations were either false or not based on the reality of her time with me.
“I am dismayed that anyone of any gender can make allegations like this and have them published before a verdict is reached in court.
“It continues to have a serious impact on my life and that of our children.
“As she was the wife I loved for almost 14 years and is still the mother of my children I wish her well.”
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