Woman got back from shop to find blood all over home

A woman returned to her Tullibody house following an early morning shopping trip to find her home covered in blood and her partner with injuries which included bite marks on his back, Stirling Sheriff Court was told on Monday.

Witness Marita McKechnie had been drinking with partner Jamie Mulligan and three other men at her Carseview home on August 31, 2013. She went to the shops early in the morning, but alleged that when she returned she found Mulligan straddled over a couch trying to evade two fellow guests.

Ms McKechnie was giving evidence on Monday, the the third day of the trial of 56-year-old Mulligan before a sheriff and jury. Mulligan is accused of assaulting Thomas Allan to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement. The charge stated that Mulligan punched Mr Allan on the head and repeatedly struck him on the body with a bottle.

Mulligan, however, denied the charge and has lodged a special defence of self defence. Mulligan also denied a charge of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner.

Ms McKechnie told Stirling Sheriff Court on Monday that the couple were at home having a quiet drink and watching a music TV channel. Ms McKechnie was drinking Blue WKD vodka and Mulligan Buckfast.

Three men came to the house in the early hours that Saturday morning – one of whom, Bryan Gladwin, she knew from the Tullibody area and the other two she did not. She later learned that their names were Tommy Allan and ‘Haggis’.

Mulligan had gone to the door and the couple invited the men, who had cans of either lager or cider and cigarettes, inside.

Ms McKechnie said everyone was drinking and talking. Asked to describe the atmosphere by fiscal depute Susan Campbell, Ms McKechnie replied that it was “calm”.

She left the house at 6.15am to go to the nearby Premier convenience store. The trip took a maximim of 15 minutes. However, on her returned the atmosphere had changed.

Asked by Ms Campbell to explain, the witness replied that she saw blood “everywhere” and her partner with one leg on either side of the couch. Gladwin and Allan, at the front of the couch, were “challenging” Mulligan and Haggis was putting his trainers and jacket back on.

Ms Campbell asked the witness if she could identify any injuries. But McKechnie replied that she could not because of the amount of blood on Mulligan.

Ms McKechnie said the men were not speaking to one another but she told them to leave her home.

She also noticed broken glass – from a tumbler, a bottle of Buckfast and the Blue WKD vodka bottle “all over the place”.

The three male visitors left the house, but Allan shouted at Mulligan to come outside, but the accused did not respond, she said.

She then cleaned blood off her couch with a dishcloth and paper hankies.

Ms Campbell asked Ms McKechnie if she made any attempt to find out what had happened that morning. She replied that she did, but Mulligan did not give an explanation.

She described Mulligan’s injuries as being two gashes on his left hand and bite marks on his back. She could see the bite marks, she said, because Mulligan, who tended to take his t-shirt off indoors, had taken it off earlier that morning.

Ms McKechnie said she suggested that Mulligan go to hospital, but he replied that he wasn’t going there that morning.

At the close of the Crown case the fiscal depute withdrew the charge of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner.

The trial before Sheriff William Gilchrist was continuing yesterday (Tuesday).