A soldier who locked his former fiancée in a bedroom and assaulted her has been fined – but may still face the Army’s own discipline.
Robin Nicol, 20, knocked on the woman’s door on January 21 of this year and then ran into her home and up to her bedroom, Inverness Sheriff Court heard yesterday.
After she followed him in, he locked the bedroom door.
He then grabbed a pair of scissors from the dressing table and brandished them at his ex, fiscal depute Ruaridh Allison told the court.
Mr Allison said Nicol, a serving soldier with the Royal Regiment of Scotland, was “acting in an extremely agitated manner”.
The physical struggle between the pair only came to an end when others at the address were able to gain access to the room and remove the scissors from him.
‘Promising young soldier’
But defence solicitor Willie Young told the court his client, who was described by an army superior as a “highly motivated, disciplined and promising young soldier” claimed he had only taken hold of the scissors after the woman picked them up.
“She had originally been brandishing the scissors and he disarmed her,” Mr Young said.
Nicol, a private, was arrested at Fort George Barracks later that night and subsequently released, after which he committed a further offence.
He breached a bail condition not to approach or contact the woman when he spotted her in the street on March 4 and called out to attract her attention.
Mr Young told the court that the pair, who had previously been engaged, was in a “turbulent relationship” for nine months before the incident.
He said: “He accepts he did not behave in an appropriate or mature fashion.”
The court also heard how the charges now pose a threat Nicol’s long-held dream of a continuing army career.
Mr Young said: “His conduct has put his livelihood in serious jeopardy.
“He is likely to be disciplined internally, he has an exemplary record with the army as matters stand.”
Sheriff Aitken handed down fines of £500 in respect of the assault charge and £340 for the bail breach.