Angus murder accused Tasmin Glass told police she had sent a text to ex-boyfriend Steven Donaldson saying “Meet you Hill” on the night of his alleged killing, but he failed to turn up for the rendezvous at the Kirriemuir playpark near her home.
On the eleventh day of evidence at the High Court in Edinburgh, jurors were also told co-accused Callum Davidson said: “I think youse are far fetched” when told by a detective he was being charged with the murder of the Arbroath 27-year-old.
Glass, Davidson and Steven Dickie, all from Kirriemuir, deny murdering oil worker Mr Donaldson on June 6 or 7 last year by attacking him and setting him and his car on fire.
Detective Constable Nicola Annan, who was part of the Major Investigation Team (MIT) in the case told the court of witness statements given by Glass, then 19, on three occasions between June 8 and June 14.
Glass told police she and Mr Donaldson had split up in April last year, and despite requests from him to get back together she had then started seeing co-accused Dickie.
She told police she and Mr Donaldson had a text row on June 5, adding in her statement: “It was like he was trying to belittle me.”
On June 6, she pretended to him that she was still in Glasgow, where she had a flat, but then sent him a text at 10.25pm saying: “Meet you Hill”, relating to Kirrie Hill.
In her statement she said she received a brief call from Mr Donaldson at 10.45pm saying he was on his way.
Her statement continued: “I had Steven’s belongings in the car in a bag and was going to give them to him if things didn’t work out.”
Glass added: “When I got there he wasn’t there. I just went home. I thought Steven was playing games with me.”
The trial heard Glass describe Dickie in a witness statement as jealous and protective, fearing he would “go mental” if he saw Mr Donaldson’s name coming up on her mobile phone.
She also told police she was around twelve weeks’ pregnant at the time the inquiry into Mr Donaldson’s death was ongoing, naming him as the father but adding that he was unaware of that and she had a termination planned for two weeks later.
Another member of the MIT, Detective Sergeant Scott McGeechan, said he had gone to Peel Farm, near Lintrathen, just before 5pm on Thursday June 14.
“We went to arrest Callum Davidson on suspicion of murder,” the officer told the court.
When cautioned, Davidson replied: “I think youse are far fetched with this.”
Davidson was then taken to Dundee police headquarters and charged with Mr Donaldson’s murder at 4am on June 15, having made no comment during an hour-long interview, the court heard.
The trial continues.
THE CHARGES
The charge faced by the accused Steven Dickie, Callum Davidson and Tasmin Glass alleges that between June 6 and 7 2018 at the Peter Pan playpark, Kirriemuir and Loch of Kinnordy nature reserve car park, they assaulted Mr Donaldson and arranged to meet him with the intention of assaulting him, and once there repeatedly struck him on the head and body with unknown instruments whereby he was incapacitated, and thereafter 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, 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, presenting weapons and acting in a threatening manner.
They are also charged with putting a kitten in a bag in Main Street, Lochore, Fife on an occasion between February 1 and May 31 2017, swinging the bag about and punching and kicking the kitten; 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, by pushing him to the floor and threatening 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 by seizing her by the wrist and neck and threatening her with violence.
