A Moray man has been convicted of stabbing a neighbour who stole his wife in a love triangle row.
Stuart Murray was found guilty of assaulting his wife Donna’s lover – 49-year-old Kevin Doherty – to the danger of his life. But a jury at the High Court in Livingston yesterday cleared the 44-year-old marine engineer of attempted murder after hearing evidence that Mr Doherty had attacked him first.
Murray had denied the charge and claimed he acted in self-defence during a drunken confrontation outside their homes in Alba Road, Buckie, in June.
He said he’d gone next door to the offshore rig worker’s home because mother of two Donna, 41, was there and had failed to answer his text messages.
But Mr Doherty told him: “Donna doesn’t want to talk to you.” Then he kneed him in the groin and started punching and kicking him.
Murray admitted he had armed himself with a filleting knife but claimed he only took it out of his pocket and waved it from side to side to stop Mr Doherty attacking him.
He claimed his victim impaled himself on the blade when he lunged forward to continue his assault.
However, Mr Doherty said in evidence he didn’t see the knife and only realised he had been stabbed when he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. He sustained multiple wounds to his stomach, chest, wrist, arm and upper leg before he wrestled Murray to the ground and pinned him down until police arrived.
Mr Doherty told the court: “I could have been stabbed through the heart if I hadn’t done that. In fact I’m glad I did because I saved my own life.”
Under cross-examination by advocate depute Alan Summers QC during the trial, Murray had admitted that he was not happy with his wife regularly staying at his neighbour’s home until 5 o’clock in the morning. He said they both denied that they were having an affair and he could not prove they were although he admitted his relationship with his wife had ended at Hogmanay.
Judge Lord Kinclaven called for criminal justice social work reports and deferred sentence until January 9 at the High Court in Aberdeen.