Woman tells of terror chase

A Hamilton personal trainer followed a woman pushing a buggy carrying a baby through the streets of the town, a court heard this week.

Ross Quigley, of Whitehill, went on trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court on Tuesday on charges of assaulting a woman at an address in Blantyre on November 18 this year, and charges of assaulting the woman, assaulting another woman, and assaulting a baby to her injury on November 18.

The 25-year-old denied these charges along with three charges of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner – two at the Blantyre address and one at Asda Hamilton.

Giving evidence on Tuesday morning, the woman said she had met Quigley in Hamilton’s New Cross Centre on November 11 this year where he demanded money from her.

When the fiscal depute asked the witness about Quigley’s tone of voice, she said:“frustrated, upset, angry.”

He followed her down to the bottom cross where he stopped. However, she kept on walking towards Asda with the baby in a buggy.

At one point, she said, she turned back to see Quigley running towards her. She said at the Asda cafe entrance she could still see him running and went into the store“to get away from him”.

Quigley was still running towards her and she hid in the store’s changing rooms for ten minutes.

The fiscal depute asked her how she felt at that point. She replied: “Terrified”.

After 10 minutes, she looked out from the changing rooms but couldn’t see Quigley.

She then went down the escalator and out the store’s main entrance. Her car, she said, was parked nearby.

She met a relative on leaving the store and at that point the accused appeared from behind her. The witness described Quigley’s demeanour as angry. She said he told the relative to“get to f***”and she ran back into Asda with the baby in the buggy.

She had already seen a uniformed police officer at a kiosk and approached him. She said she asked the officer to keep Quigley, who was standing between her and the policeman, away from her.

The witness walked out to her car but Quigley came back out of the store and directed a lot of abusive remarks at her, she said.

Asked about his tone of voice, she replied:“really angry. It got louder and louder as he got more frustrated.”

The fiscal depute asked the witness how she felt at that point, She said:“i was anxious. I just wanted to get away.”

Sheriff Allan Mckay continued the trial until January 13 for more evidence. Bail was continued.