A Facebook troll has been spared a prison sentence despite firing off a series of sinister threats to a Perthshire woman who battered a baby girl and left her brain damaged.
William McPhee, from Rattray, near Blairgowrie, sent menacing messages to Shannon Soutter, who was convicted of assaulting and endangering the life of a six-month-old child at a house in Arbroath in 2018.
McPhee called her a “pure beast” and told her to leave town because he knew of “at least” three people who wanted her dead.
The 26-year-old, of Glenalmond Road, appeared at Perth Sheriff Court for sentencing on Wednesday.
He previously pled guilty to a single charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner, likely to cause fear or alarm, by sending messages on social media to Soutter.
He accepts he repeatedly made derogatory remarks and threats of violence.
Sheriff Neil Bowie told him: “Threats directed at anyone in this way have to be taken seriously.
“Clearly, the complainer went straight to the police about this, and understandably so.
“You now seem to accept the gravity of what you did.”
He placed McPhee on supervision for a year and ordered him to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.
McPhee was told his sentence was a “direct alternative” to prison.
Threatening messages
The court heard Soutter was alone at her home in Perthshire when she received a notification on her phone about new Facebook messages.
Fiscal depute Andrew Harding said: “When she opened the Messenger app, she noticed she had received messages from an account in the name of William McPhee.”
The first direct message stated: “Are you that beastie b****** that battered that kid?”
This was followed by: “I swear to God, if I see you ’round Blair, I’ll batter the f*** out of you and so would my missus.”
McPhee then posted: “If I was you, I’d get to f*** as far as possible, because I (can) count three people who want you dead.”
A fourth message described Soutter as a “pure beast”.
The court had earlier heard when police traced McPhee, he told them he was “not sorry” for sending the messages.
Now remorseful
Solicitor Sarah Brown said her client had been drinking when he sent the messages.
“This was an unsophisticated attempt to make his feelings known, whilst consuming alcohol in the company of others.
“The following morning, he looked at his account and saw the messages and immediately deleted them.”
The court heard McPhee later handed himself in to his local police station.
Ms Brown said her client suffered from anxiety and mental health issues, adding there was an “unhealthy relationship between his offending and his use of alcohol.”
Baby left with serious injuries
Soutter had returned to Perthshire, where her family stay, after receiving a community sentence for assaulting the baby over a two-month period.
The youngster suffered fractures to her skull, ribs and ankle.
She walked free from court in September 2019, after a judge ruled it was “neither appropriate or necessary to lock her up”.
Soutter initially claimed she had been “rocking” the child and “may” have bumped her head off a table.
The court was told some of the injuries had resulted from shaking the child.
The rib fractures had been caused by gripping the child.
Lord Turnbull said Soutter, of Blairgowrie, had been struggling with a “history of depression” and other personal issues at the time.
“The circumstances are so unusual that a degree of understanding, and some mercy, leads to the conclusion it is neither appropriate or necessary to impose a custodial sentence,” he said.
Soutter sobbed as she was instead ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work as part of a three-year community payback order.
