A Dunfermline man has gone on trial facing a string of charges of cruelty against his step-children over a period of more than 11 years.
The allegations include grabbing a girl’s hand and placing it in boiling liquid, physical violence and forcing a girl to eat food after telling her he had spat in it.
At Dunfermline Sheriff Court yesterday, Ronald Hammon, 47, of Plane Grove, denied a catalogue of offences alleged to have occurred between April 29 1999 and December 31 2010 at addresses in Ferry Road Drive, Edinburgh, and Wardlaw Crescent and McClelland Crescent, both Dunfermline.
He denies assaulting Claire MacNiven by repeatedly striking her on the body with a spatula and a wooden spoon, repeatedly striking her on the body and threatening to strike her on the body with a slipper and a flip-flop.
He further denies striking her on the body with a hair brush, threatening to strike her on the body with a belt, repeatedly striking her on the head with his open hand, forcibly pressing his head against hers, pushing her back against a wall and repeatedly seizing her by the throat.
Hammon also denies seizing her by the clothing, lifting her from the floor and holding her against a wall, to her injury.
Further charges allege he assaulted Claire’s older sister, Louise MacNiven, by repeatedly striking her on the body with a spatula and a wooden spoon, repeatedly striking her on the body with a slipper and a flip-flop, repeatedly seizing her by the throat, seizing her by the clothing, lifting her from the floor and holding her against a wall, seizing her hand and placing her finger in boiling liquid, pushing her on the body, causing her to fall to the floor and strike her head against the floor, repeatedly striking her on the head with his open hand, to her injury.
Hammon also denies repeatedly intimating to Louise and Claire MacNiven that their mother had committed suicide, knowing this to be untrue, intimating to Louise he had spat in food being eaten by her and compelling her to eat it and intimating to Claire that he had not cooked food being eaten by her and compelling her to eat it.
He further denies committing a breach of the peace by repeatedly shouting and swearing at Louise, Claire and two others.
Claire MacNiven, now 23, said she had known Hammon since she was six, when her mum and dad split up. She lived with her mum, Hammon, sister Louise and a younger sister. “It was threat after threat after threat,” she said, adding she was always made to feel “in the way”.
She said she now has a good relationship with her mum, who split up with Hammon.
The trial, before Sheriff Charles Macnair, was adjourned until May 29.