Angus murder accused Tasmin Glass confided to her boss that Steven Donaldson was the father of her unborn child weeks before the Arbroath man’s body was found, a court heard.
Glass told cafe boss Lee Wright she was pregnant and in a police interview following the discovery of Mr Donaldson’s body, Ms Wright told officers Glass had previously named her former partner as the dad.
On the seventh day of the trial at the High Court in Edinburgh, take-away owner Ms Wright said she had employed Glass for a number of years, firstly as a Saturday girl and then on an almost full-time basis.
Ms Wright told the court she had given Glass £600 after she approached her asking for a loan to repay her grandmother.
The two women later had a discussion about pregnancy and Ms Wright advised Glass to take a pregnancy test, which she said was positive.
They spoke several times on the topic and she advised Glass to make appointments with midwives and doctors.
“Did you have a discussion about whether she was in a relationship at that point?” asked advocate depute Ashley Edwards.
The witness said she understood Glass to be in a relationship with co-accused Steven Dickie.
“Was anyone else mentioned at that time?” said the prosecutor.
“I vaguely remember asking if Steven Donaldson was the father and I was told no because she hadn’t seen him for several months.”
Ms Wright was also asked about the days immediately following the discovery of Mr Donaldson’s body on June 7 last year and said Glass had continued to work as normal.
The two women went to a Marti Pellow concert in Dunfermline on Saturday June 9 and Ms Wright told the court the accused had been “normal” that night.
Under cross-examination by Mark Stewart QC, representing Glass, Ms Wright said the £600 was to be paid back through a reduction in her wages at the cafe.
Mr Stewart then asked the witness about a statement she had given police in mid-June about the pregnancy in which Ms Wright said: “I asked if it was Steven’s, meaning Steven Donaldson, and she said yes.
The police statement continued: “I asked her if she was going to let Steven Donaldson know, and she said no.”
Mr Stewart put it to the witness: “This was your record of what you told police at the first time of asking in June?”
The witness replied: “I had forgotten that but I remember now.”
The trial continues.
Charges faced by Glass, Dickie and Davidson
The charge faced by all three accused – Tasmin Glass, Steven Dickie and Callum Davidson – alleges that between June 6 and 7 2018 at the Peter Pan playpark, Kirriemuir, and Loch of Kinnordy nature reserve car park, they arranged to meet Mr Donaldson with the intention of harming him and assaulted him. Once there, they repeatedly struck him on the head and body with unknown instruments whereby he was incapacitated. Thereafter, they took him to Loch of Kinnordy where they repeatedly struck him on the head and body with a knife and baseball bat or similar instruments, then repeatedly struck him on the head and neck with an unknown heavy bladed instrument and set fire to him and his motor vehicle, registered S73 VED, and murdered him.
Dickie and Davidson face four other charges including one of behaving in a threatening manner towards two men between January 2014 and June 2018 by making threats, following them on foot and in a motor vehicle.
They are also charged with putting a kitten in a bag in Main Street, Lochore, Fife, during an incident between February 1 and May 31 2017, swinging the bag about and punching and kicking the kitten.
Another charge includes behaving in a threatening manner towards a man in St Malcolm’s Wynd, Kirriemuir, and elsewhere between December 1 2017 and February 28 2018 by following him on foot and in a vehicle, and threatening him with weapons.
Both also deny following and staring at a woman and kicking her car in Kirriemuir between August 1 2017 and April 31 2018.
Davidson faces a further charge of assaulting a man between June 1 2017 and December 31 2017 at a house in Glengate, Kirriemuir.
He allegedly pushed him to the floor and threatened to punch him.
Dickie is also accused of assaulting a woman at the Ogilvy Arms pub in Kirriemuir between February 1 and 28 last year.
He allegedly seized her by the wrist and neck and threatened her with violence.
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