Teenager guilty of Stirling assault

Jul 27 2011 by Stephen Robertson, Stirling Observer Wednesday

A TEENAGER who assaulted a complete stranger in Stirling was fined £200 this week.

Stirling Sheriff Court heard on Monday how Ann McCallum (17) attacked Ashley Rae (22) as she sat in a car in the city’s Baker Street in May last year.

McCallum denied the assault but was convicted after a trial this week. Co-accused Ashleigh McAuley (21), of Dundee, who also denied assault, walked free after it was ruled that she had no case to answer.

The court heard that Ms Rae was sitting in the passenger seat of her friend Gillian Parfery’s car when McCallum hauled open the vehicle’s door and started punching her.

Ms Rae told the court: “Gillian was on the phone and I was looking out the window and two girls approached the car, opened the door and began being abusive. One punched me in the face.

“I was just sitting in the car. I was taken aback that people would start shouting abuse and hitting you.

“I think that they thought I was looking at them but I was just looking out the window.”

Ms Rae eventually got the door closed and locked and Ms Parfery drove off.

Ms Rae added that she was hit a number of times and ended up with a black eye.

While she was able to identify McCallum, she was unable to say for sure who the other person involved was.

McCallum’s solicitor Stephen Maguire asked Ms Rae if she had been laughing at his client.

She replied: “I didn’t laugh at anybody.”

Sheriff William Gilchrist found McCallum guilty of the assault and of causing a breach of the peace during the same incident, though he ruled that any indication that she had challenged others to fight be deleted from that charge.

He then fined McCallum, of Keir Avenue, Stirling, £200.