A children’s fundraiser who was once named Dundee Citizen of the Year says he’ll quit his charity work – after being convicted of abusive behaviour towards his ex-partner.
Charlie Kean, 55, was found guilty after trial at Dundee Sheriff Court of behaving in an abusive manner towards Deborah Bruce.
He was also found guilty of breaking a mobile phone belonging to another person.
He was found not guilty of three other charges – including assaulting a child by pushing the youngster against a wall in a restaurant and dangling a puppy out of a window.
Kean, of the Esplanade, Broughty Ferry, runs Kean’s Children’s Fund as well as his own roofing company and had denied all the charges.
During the trial, Miss Bruce told the court she and Kean had been involved in an “on-again, off-again” relationship for about a year, ending last May.
“It was a very stressful relationship, he was very emotionally needy,” Miss Bruce told the court.
“On May 3, we were in the Weavers Mill restaurant to celebrate a friend’s birthday.”
Miss Bruce said she saw Kean pinning a child against a wall before smashing the youngster’s phone on the ground.
When asked by depute fiscal Lynne Mannion why Kean would act this way, Miss Bruce said: “(The child) was recording on their phone. I didn’t see them (do it).”
Miss Bruce said the child seemed upset following the incident.
Sheriff John Rafferty fined Kean a total of £500 for the offences.
Kean – who maintains his innocence – says he now plans to quit carrying out the charity work which has seen him donate thousands of pounds and gifts to disadvantaged kids in the city.
Speaking at the conclusion of the case, he said: “I am going away to live my life, give up my charity.
“I’ve raised over a million pounds. I feel like I have a target on my back.
“People who know me know who I am, they know I go out every day helping people with mobility scooters, people being sanctioned. I’d give up that Citizen of the Year to be a normal person.”
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