Wine bottle attack shattered window

Victim was showered with broken glass

A wo m a n we n t o n t h e rampage with a walking stick in a Coupar Angus house.

Megan Duffy, 21, of Church Place, then hurled a bottle through the window of the property, showering Kevin Traynor with shards of broken glass.

She has been given the chance to avoid a further prison sentence and has been ordered to be of good behaviour until February 7.

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis ordered a supplementary background report on her after she admitted that she wilfully or recklessly struck the ceiling of a house in Japp Square, Coupar Angus, with the walking aid on February 25.

She then smashed glasses and ornaments.

She also pled guilty to a second charge that with “utter disregard for the consequences” she threw a b o t t l e t h ro u g h t h e w i n d ow, resulting in Mr Traynor, who was sitting inside, being hit by the missile and pieces of shattered glass.

Not guilty pleas were accepted to two further charges.

She had been accused of seizing Laura Gillie by the hair and brandishing the walking stick, banging it on a table and overturning bins.

Depute fiscal Carol Whyte said Duffy had been drinking in the house with friends but had been asked to leave about 9.45pm.

“Wh e n t h a t h a p p e n e d s h e began to swing the walking stick randomly, in a menacing manner.”

She banged it on a table, smashing several bottles, glasses and small ornaments.

“She then swung it upwards, smashing a light on the ceiling,” the fiscal said.

Sh e was t a k e n h o l d o f f a n d p h y s i c a l l y re mov e d f ro m t h e property.

But once outside she threw a bottle of wine through the living room window.

Mr Traynor was sitting on a sofa directly under the window and the fiscal said: “The bottle struck him on his neck and some of the broken glass also landed on him.”

Solicitor Steve Lafferty said Duffy is currently serving an eight-month sentence for assault and is due to be released on November 17.

He revealed that a community payback order had also been imposed on his client just 10 days before this latest offence.

S h e r i f f Fo u l i s s a i d h e w a s prepared to see how the accused progressed on the order following her impending release.

“I am giving you an opportunity to indicate that having served the eight months - and a previous sentence of detention - the penny is beginning to drop,” he said.

Duffy was given the eight months behind bars after pleading guilty to a catalogue of charges following trouble at a Blairgowrie care home.

The court was told that a police officer had two stitches inserted in a gash to her lip after she was struck with the handcuffs she was using to restrain the accused.

PC Jill Christie was taken to Perth Royal Infirmary for treatment and could be left with a permanent scar.

The court heard Duffy had been on a “three-day bender”.

The incident arose when Duffy snapped after turning up at Northlands Home, Woodlands R o a d , Bl a i r g owr i e, whe re h e r mother worked.