Angus murder accused Tasmin Glass confided to her boss that ex-boyfriend Steven Donaldson was the father of her unborn child in the weeks before the Arbroath man’s body was found, a High Court jury has been told.
The then 19-year-old had revealed to Kirriemuir café boss Lee Wright she was pregnant, and in a police interview following the discovery of Mr Donaldson’s charred and mutilated body at the Loch of Kinnordy nature reserve near the Angus town, Ms Wright told officers Glass had previously named her former partner as the dad.
After the early signs of pregnancy began to emerge, Glass also told her employer she was not going to tell Mr Donaldson he was the father.
On the seventh day of the Edinburgh High Court murder trial of Kirriemuir trio Steven Dickie, Callum Davidson and Glass, takeaway 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.
Mum of murder accused says daughter had nothing to do with Steven Donaldson’s death, court hears
In evidence to Crown prosecutor, advocate depute Ashley Edwards, the witness told the court that in the spring of last year she had given Glass £600 after she approached her asking for a loan to repay her grandmother.
Around May, the two women 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.
The advocate depute asked: “Did you have a discussion about whether she was in a relationship at that point?”
The witness said she understood Glass to be in a relationship with Steven Dickie.
“Was anyone else mentioned at that time?” – said the prosecutor.
She replied: “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.
In 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 café.
The defence counsel 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.
THE CHARGES
The charge faced by all three accused 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.
