A Fife man accused of domestic abuse turned up at a children’s birthday party and threatened to kill his partner, a court has been told.
David Kinloch allegedly arrived at the property in Kirkland Gardens, Methil, on January 27 2005 alongside members of his family.
The 34-year-old is standing trial at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court accused of repeatedly attacking two women who he was in relationships with.
The jury trial was told by Kelly Spence, the sister of one of the alleged victims, how Kinloch had turned up at the property demanding Michelle Spence come out of the house.
The 39-year-old sibling said: “We were having a first birthday party. There were quite a lot of people there. Michelle arrived unexpectedly. She was in a really bad state.
“She was covered in bruises on her arms, legs and body. Her hair was shaved off as well.
“She was scared. David and his family came to my sister Claire’s front door. They wanted Michelle. They were chucking bricks at the doors and windows.
“They wouldn’t leave the property, we had to call the police. Michelle was so scared she went and hid underneath my sisters bed.
“She was only there about an hour before they turned up. David shouted ‘Michelle get f****** out the house. Get f******* out here or I’m going to kill you.
“I never let Michelle out the door. I was very angry.”
Miss Spence said the incident lasted around ten minutes before the group left.
She added that she had seen her sister Michelle injured “quite a lot” and that Kinloch had made her “shave her hair off”.
Another witness, Ryan Craven, 39, said he would often spend time at the Barrie Street flat shared by Michelle Spence and Kinloch in 2003 to 2005.
He told the court that the woman seemed “very quiet and subdued” and that Kinloch did not treat her well.
In a statement to the police, he said: “I have seen David pull her by her hair, like yanking, saying come on. She just put up with that.
“It was obvious that there was domestic abuse and she was terrified of him.”
He added: “One time they were both strung out and David got her to cut her hair to get drugs and ended up with a skinhead.”
Defence solicitor Ian Houston suggested to Mr Craven that his memory was perhaps wrong due to his history of drug use and the time that had passed since the alleged incidents.
Kinloch is standing trial accused of repeatedly attacking Michelle Spence to her injury between March 2002 and January 2005 at two addresses in Methil.
He is also charged with assaulting another woman, Amanda Britt, at addresses in Dunfermline and Lochgelly between May 2015 and May 2018.
The trial in front of Sheriff James Williamson continues.
