Love cheat accusations result in man’s appearance in court

A man who accused his partner of infidelity threatened to flush her phone down the toilet, a court heard.

John Gemmell, 35, of 15 Lonan Drive, Oban, appeared at the town’s sheriff court last week and admitted abusive behaviour towards his then partner and sending offensive and threatening text messages to a man.

Gemmell will have to wait for reports to be heard back at court in March before he is sentenced.

Gemmell and his partner had been to a wedding party on July 6 last year where they had been drinking.

Gemmell’s partner went home to bed early and he followed later. Under the influence of alcohol, he woke her up and accused her of having left the celebration to meet another man.

She refused to hand over her mobile phone and that led to an argument and a struggle. He seized it and threatened to flush it down the toilet.

Gemmell kept accusing her of cheating and told her to leave the house. His partner went to collect belongings from the bedroom but Gemmell followed her and pulled her onto the bed which resulted in bruising to her arms. She took photographs and showed them to police.

The court also heard Gemmell had sent text messages to another complainer between December 27 and December 28 last year warning what he would do if he caught the man at his house when his children were there. It was part of a number of messages to that man, goading him to meet up for what the complainant took to mean a fight.

Gemmell was arrested after police investigated a series of linked incidents.