An abusive husband punctured all four tyres of his wife’s car before using paint to write a slur about her.
Steven McCafferty wrote the word “slag” on the car after deflating its tyres on April 5 at Dunbar Park, Speckled Wood Court.
In a separate incident, McCafferty also set fire to the front door of a property on Eskdale Avenue during a separate incident.
However, the hapless 43-year-old was snared after police found traces of DNA as well as matches left behind on the doorstep.
McCafferty is now facing a prison stint after he pleaded guilty at Dundee Sheriff Court to committing the offences.
It was revealed how McCafferty and his wife were due to finalise their divorce in March but this was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Fiscal depute Marie Irvine revealed how his wife had received a text at around 5.50pm on April 5 from McCafferty that said: “Threw everything away for ya but I’ll pay ya back.”
She immediately presumed that McCafferty was “going to do something” and believed her home or car would be targeted.
Ms Irvine said: “All four tyres were flat and upon examining the wheels, she noticed there were puncture holes in each tyre as if they had been stabbed by a screwdriver.
“Police attended at 7pm and her phone rang at that time. The accused’s number appeared on her screen.
“He said ‘Have you seen your car? I have just had a bright idea.
“‘That’ll be re-occurring every f*****g month.'”
Ms Irvine added: “This was overheard by the officers in attendance. At 9pm on the same date, she received a Facebook message from a neighbour asking about her car.
“She presumed he was referring to the flat tyres but noticed there was a large amount of white gloss paint that said ‘slag’ on the passenger side.”
Set fire to letterbox of property
Two months earlier, McCafferty set fire to the letterbox of a property on Eskdale Avenue. The alarm was raised after a resident noticed burn marks on the letterbox as well as a smell of turpentine.
Used and unused matches were found at the scene and officers managed to recover McCafferty’s DNA.
McCafferty, a prisoner of HMP Perth, pleaded guilty to causing his wife fear and alarm by puncturing the four tyres of her car, pouring paint over it and writing the word as well as making threats towards her.
He also admitted setting the front door of a property on Eskdale Avenue on fire causing damage around the letterbox between February 9-10.
Defence solicitor Jim Laverty opted to reserve mitigation until a social work report had been compiled.
Sheriff Tom Hughes deferred sentence until January and continued to remand McCafferty in custody.
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