An offshore worker who grabbed a knife during a row with his partner has been found guilty of threatening behaviour.
Police were called to Christopher Crombie’s home after he grabbed the weapon following an altercation with his then-partner and threatened to harm himself.
When the woman locked him out of the property he banged on the door repeatedly, still holding the knife.
Crombie, 37, had denied all charges in relation to the incident on August 21, as well as others relating to an incident on November 1 when he returned to the property, demanded to be let and damaged the front and back doors.
Assault ‘not proven’
But Sheriff Ian Cruickshank found Crombie, of Towerhill Avenue, Inverness, guilty of two counts of threatening behaviour and one of wilfully or recklessly destroying or damaging property belonging to another. All the charges carried a domestic aggravation.
He acquitted Crombie of a charge of assaulting the woman, which was found not proven.
In evidence led by fiscal depute Emily Hood at Inverness Sheriff Court, the woman said that Crombie had returned home from a period working offshore in August “intoxicated” and had begun to accuse her of infidelity.
During the confrontation, she claimed he had thrown a champagne flute at her cutting her finger when she raised a hand to protect her face.
“I knew he was going to hurt me,” she said.
She rejected a suggestion from Crombie’s solicitor Marc Dickson that she herself had been intoxicated and angry.
She also denied that she had “glassed” Crombie, cutting herself in the process. She also denied a suggestion she had bitten his finger.
Distressed woman’s 999 call
The court was played a 999 call made by the woman as she attempted to get away from Crombie by moving to another room following the altercation, at which point he grabbed a kitchen knife and threatened to harm himself.
She managed to push him out of the house and locked the door, refusing to let him back in.
Police who were called to the scene found Crombie in the garden of the property, where they also recovered the knife.
The trial also heard that Crombie returned to the property in Inverness’ Bruce Gardens on November 1 and shouted repeatedly, causing a concerned neighbour to contact police.
Describing the damage to the property, Crombie’s former partner one of the doors was knocked out of its frame.
Officers who entered the property found Crombie at the top of the stairs, with the woman locked in a bathroom.
Following Crombie’s conviction Sheriff Cruickshank was provided with a schedule of his previous convictions, which the court heard included a previous domestic abuse matter involving the same woman.
Sheriff Cruickshank called for pre-sentencing reports and the case will call again next month.
