An Aberdeen man is on trial accused of a nightclub knuckleduster attack allegedly sparked after an oil worker protested about him touching his girlfriend’s bum.
Daniel Rougvie, 32, is alleged to have attacked the 49-year-old man at the city’s Prohibition nightspot on February 9 2019 – with the North Sea worker describing him as “out of control”.
He faces seven charges at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, including sexual assault, repeatedly punching the man to his “severe injury” and attempting to bite a police officer.
It was also claimed by fiscal depute Felicity Merson that Rougvie, upon being apprehended by police, threatened to “bite one officer’s face off” and bite the throat of another.
He was also charged with possession of cannabis and diazepam.
Appearing as a witness, a 26-year-old woman alleged that Rougvie had “squeezed her bum” at the popular Langstane Place nightspot.
She said: “I was in disbelief. He was looking at me like he would be allowed to do anything he wanted.
“I was shocked about it because I would never have thought something like that would happen with my boyfriend there. I told my boyfriend after it happened and he told him not to do it again and leave.”
A large gash on the forehead
Rougvie’s defence solicitor, Iain McGregor, suggested that any contact was “fleeting and wholly accidental” and claimed the girl didn’t immediately alert her boyfriend about it.
She replied: “At first I thought it was my boyfriend who’d done it, and I told him immediately after I realised it wasn’t him.”
Giving evidence to the court, the woman’s partner later claimed Rougvie approached the couple and admitted to having “grabbed her”.
He said: “My girlfriend was very pale and upset. After a minute he came over to us and admitted touching her, saying he was drunk.
“He wasn’t remorseful about his actions. I used my hand to push him away but he wouldn’t leave.”
The man claims that Rougvie then went “out of control” striking him three or four times on the face before Prohibition door staff intervened.
The jury was shown security camera footage of the incident.
They also saw a set of knuckledusters and police video footage of the injured man with a large gash on his forehead.
However, during cross-examination of Sergeant Iain Fraser, Mr McGregor questioned the officer’s “objectivity” as he was assessing the nightclub footage of the incident.
He said: “You put in the log that a short time later Mr Rougvie walked past and moved his hands towards the woman’s buttocks, but I would suggest to you that you don’t actually see that – it’s obscured.
“It’s a matter for the jury, but what I’m suggesting to you is that you have gone too far in what you say in the evidence and what you’ve placed in the log. Do you disagree with me?”
“It’s entirely up to you to suggest that. But not from what I saw. And we all viewed it”, Sergeant Fraser replied.
The Crown Office informed Sheriff William Summers that it had concluded its evidence against Rougvie, of George Street, Aberdeen.
The case continues.