Builder ‘started smashing things’ when girlfriend told him not to come home from pub

A builder flew into a rage because he believed his girlfriend was cheating on him when she told him not to come home after visiting the pub.

Nicholas Greig admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by smashing and throwing items, kicking a radiator off a wall and repeatedly punching a fridge freezer at a property on Innewan Gardens, Bankfoot, on November 29 last year.

Perth Sheriff Court was told that Greig and the complainer had been in a relationship for a number of years prior to the incident but that they were no longer together.

Depute fiscal Stuart Richardson said the 35-year-old had gone drinking after work.

He said: “He phoned at 10.30pm asking his partner to arrange a lift. She could tell he had been drinking and told him to go elsewhere.

“Mr Greig arrived home at about 11pm, having lost his temper, and that’s when he started smashing things.”

Greig, who was not represented by a solicitor, said the couple had been experiencing difficulties at the time and he believed his girlfriend’s instruction to stay away was because she had another man with her.

Sheriff Fiona Tait fined Greig, of High Street, Dunkeld, £450.