Ex-councillor on trial over racist texts
handed to the Crown, that’s when it all fell apart. I couldn’t attend the trial. I didn’t feel I could listen to it and go through that so I was appointed a liaison officer. But trying to get information from the Crown was very difficult.
“A lot of what we found out came from other avenues such as the media.
“Ordinary people are going through a trial and they should be kept up to date with things, but they’re not.
“There are many failings with the way victims and their families are treated. Nicola seemed very sympathetic to this.”
Kevin added: “I’m hopeful that the First Minister will take on board all the things we have said.
“The Government must look at aspects of the justice system and how it treats families of victims, sentencing and juvenile crime and they must take steps to remedy the many failings.”
Kevin and Denise’s local MSP Ben Macpherson was also at the meeting.
He said: “I have worked with Denise and Kevin to help support the #JusticeforShaun campaign. Their courage, strength and determination in such tragic circumstances is truly remarkable.”
“The First Minister listened carefully to how they felt and how procedures could be improved for others in the future.
“While neither the First Minister nor the Cabinet Secretary can change the outcome of Shaun’s case, I will continue to correspond with both ministers to help Denise and Kevin to get the information that they’re looking for and to explore how positive changes can be made.”
Shaun’s killer cannot be named because he’s under 18. AN AIDE to Health Minister Shona Robison yesterday told a trial how her SNP councillor lover sent her a message that said: “If I had a gun, I’d shoot a Muslim but I’m not brave enough.”
Craig Melville is alleged to have sent a series of racist texts to Nadia El Nakla on the two days following the Paris terror attacks in November 2015.
Nadia, a caseworker for Robison, told the trial at Dundee Sheriff Court that she started working at the SNP’s offices in the city in January 2014.
By April of that year, she and Melville started an “on-off intimate” affair, although she was married and he was engaged to his now wife.
Nadia said in the early hours of the day after the Paris attacks, she received a drunken phone call from Melville, followed by texts.
One allegedly read: “It’s not personal, I just f ***** g hate your religion”.
Another text criticised one of her friends, telling her he “deserved to be burned alive”.
Asked by fiscal depute Joanne Smith how she felt about the texts, Nadia replied: “I was upset, I was confused and upset.”
She said he sent a text the next day that said: “I’m so sorry for acting like that and saying those things. I’m disgusted with myself, it was wrong, offensive and disgusting and I’ll work on my own head.”
Nadia described the pair’s relationship as “friends” at the time the texts were sent.
Nadia’s phone and Melville’s mobile were seized by police. Software experts did not find any of the derogatory texts.
Melville, 37, of Dundee, denies sending messages that contained “threatening, abusive and derogatory remarks regarding Muslims”.
He was forced to quit as a Dundee councillor and aide to SNP MP Stewart Hosie after the allegations emerged.
The trial continues on January 25.
Nicola seemed interested in how victims’ families are treated KEVIN WOODBURN