'I never committed any of these offences' – Wick man denies stalking his ex and her new partner
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Stalking and abuse accused Alan Bain painted an entirely different picture to the one he has heard outlined to Wick Sheriff Court by the prosecution during the trial.
Giving evidence on Wednesday, the 34-year-old categorically stated that he was not guilty of such behaviour.
The marine engineer denied bombarding his former partner, who we are referring to as Miss X, with abusive text messages and following her and her new partner in her village and elsewhere.
Bain stated: "My position from the start has been that I never committed any of these offences."
He alleged that in the aftermath of his partner leaving him for her new man, Mr Y – Miss X's new partner – told him: "I this goes to court we would say that you are a domestic abuser and a stalker."
Bain told Sheriff Donald Ferguson that any time he was parked near their home he was on legitimate personal business such as visiting friends or relatives in the village and would see Miss X and Mr Y in passing while out driving.
The accused referred to an occasion where he found himself behind Miss X and Mr Y on the Wick-Keiss road and had overtaken them as he didn't want to leave himself open to a charge of stalking them.
Bain previously lived in the village but moved to Wick after Miss X left him for Mr Y. He now spends most of his time in Aberdeen with his new partner, the court heard.
His relationship with Miss X began in 2010 and he said it was "good" for the most part. Bain said: "We were both very young and we had dreams and aspirations beyond reality."
His solicitor, Ruth Wallace, referred to the evidence of the relationship being very abusive and volatile and that Miss X was scared of him every day and that he was controlling and threatening.
Bain said that this was untrue.
He was referred to an email lodged as a production which referred to a message Miss X had sent him in March 2015 in which she expressed her love for him and the difference he had made to her life. She stated: "I love you more every day."
Bain said he was "surprised and shocked" when she left him. He said that Miss X had been struggling with a complicated pregnancy and the long periods he was working offshore and that she had fallen out with her father.
Bain added: "She had taken a job and was working 15 hours a week from home then lost the job. She phoned me as I was going offshore and sounded hysterical. I offered to come home but she didn't want me to do that."
Bain said Miss X contacted him on FaceTime and said she wanted them to have time apart but didn't give any reasons.
Bain told the court: "I spoke to her and said I appreciated life was hard but that we could get through it. She said she had been offered a house and would think about it and she later said she had made up her mind to take the house which was next to my house in the village."
Bain said he was back in Wick on April 11, 2018, and was told by Miss X that she had been invited out for a coffee with Mr Y, and said: "I just thought I would let you know."
The accused said that "everything seemed to happen so quickly" after that.
Bain also denied having screamed at the top of his voice at Miss X on the village gala day and attempting to push her, or lunge at her – an incident alleged to have happened earlier in the trial.
Miss X, who was eight months pregnant at the time, felt there was something wrong with her during their gala night out and was taken to hospital in an ambulance.
Bain claimed he had sold his house in Keiss after being threatened by Mr Y. He told the court that on one occasion when he was accused of following Miss X and Mr Y, Mr Y told him: "I can make life difficult for you. I know lots of things about you."
On a separate occasion, Bain alleged that Mr Y made an unsavoury allegation about him and Miss X.
Bain said he told Mr Y "What are you like, man," and remarked to Miss X: "This is the monster you have let into your life."
Bain spoke of the impact the situation had on him to the extent he was signed off by his doctor with stress at one point.
He commented: "I was losing everything I ever loved. I was in a dark place."
On a suggestion that he had followed Miss X and Mr Y, driving slowly behind their car on October 14, 2021, Bain said that he was in London about to board a plane for Dubai on that date, and the court had boarding documents to prove it.
Cross-examining at the close of the Crown case, fiscal Sue Foard suggested to Bain that he had not been truthful in his evidence.
She said that "consciously or unconsciously", he had changed his story to present himself "in a more favourable aspect".
Bain replied: "I would have to argue that point."
Miss Foard said: "I suggest that you were angry that your partner had left you and taken up with someone else and your anger turned to vindictiveness."
Bain replied that he was "okay" with his former partner and her new man's relationship as she was with someone who was a good person with a good job.
Miss Foard said: "You were abusive and controlling during your relationship and she was frightened of you."
Bain responded: "Controlling? I was away for months at a time, working."
Miss Foard added that the accused just "threw things in, here and there during his evidence and did not have evidence to support them."
Defence witness for Bain was his girlfriend, police constable Samantha Farquarson.
She confirmed that on three dates Bain was said in evidence to have been in Caithness he was elsewhere.
On the first date she was in London waiting to fly out to Dubai with him and on the other two dates she was with him in Aberdeenshire.
Miss Farquarson provided proof in support of her evidence.
The trial continues.
