Woman tipped foul water over man below window

A 50-year-old Campbeltown woman told the town’s court she had accidentally poured foul-smelling water over a neighbour’s son on a scorching hot day last summer.

But after her trial last week, she was found guilty of acting in a threatening or abusive manner.

Adela Stimson of 4 Pensioners Row, New Quay Street, denied the offence when she appeared before Sheriff Patrick Hughes last week.

In his evidence, the man said he was sitting on a bench while his young child played with their grandparent when he was soaked from above.

‘Something poured over me, over my head, the back of my head and down my neck. It was awful-smelling.’

He added: ‘I got straight up and saw a window open and there were drops of water coming down off the window.’ He described the water as ‘vinegary smelling’ and ‘rancid’. It was the man’s brother who called the police.

The day this happened, July 21 last year, had been very hot and sunny.

Stimson, who lived in a flat above, told police officers that it had been an accident; she had opened the window and knocked over the glass. The window opened at an angle.

Constable Alan Wallace said that the window had a sill and a lip which would have prevented the glass from tipping to the extent that a large amount of water would have been spilled.

‘You could see water residue on the window,’ he said.

In court, the 50-year-old woman said she had been warm, opened the window and the glass tipped, spilling some water and then she emptied the rest out. It had not occurred to her that someone might be sitting below.

She panicked about telling the police she had done that, her defence agent Stephen MacSporran told the court.

The glass contained a salt-water solution which had been there for two weeks.

‘I was lying on the bed listening to music, a meditation. It was very warm. I opened the windows,’ Stimson said.

‘The glass tipped over. I was entirely unaware of people outside.’

‘There was no deliberate act; this is entirely an accident,’ said Mr MacSporran.

The sheriff deferred sentence for four months for Stimson to be of good behaviour.

‘This was a deeply unpleasant thing to happen to anyone and frightening,’ he said.