A man has been jailed after getting drunk at a barbecue and threatening to burn a woman’s house down – with her kids inside.
Graeme Hunter, 30, had been drinking while attending a barbecue at an address on Kincorth Circle in Aberdeen when he sent a woman an abusive message on Facebook after earlier asking for her Snapchat.
And when her husband’s pal confronted Hunter, he launched into a vile tirade of abuse, hit her in the face and said he would “burn down the house with the kids inside”.
Fiscal depute Colin Neilson told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the woman, who lives with her husband and four children, knows Hunter from living in the area.
She saw him attending a barbecue and said ‘hello’ at around 2pm on May 26, at which point he seemed sober.
Mr Neilson said: “The accused shouted over for her to give him her Snapchat and asked for her number.
“She thought this strange so she went inside and closed the door while her husband and a friend remained outside.”
Around 7pm the woman received a Facebook message from Hunter calling her a rude word, and told her husband.
The barbecue was becoming noisy at this point and they became aware of the accused saying “negative things” about her.
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Mr Neilson said: “The husband’s friend decided to confront him.
“On being confronted the accused started shouting and swearing while trying to get over the fence. He was held back by others at the barbecue.
“He was shouting that the woman and her husband were ‘getting it’.
“Furthermore, that he knew where she lived and would come and burn her house down with the kids inside.”
The woman heard the commotion and also went outside and saw the friend and Hunter squaring up. She stood in between them.
Mr Neilson said: “The accused was shouting ‘I’m going to kill you’. The accused then swung a punch which struck the woman on her right cheek.”
She was not injured as a result.
Hunter, a prisoner of HMP Grampian, pled guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner and to assault.
Defence agent Alex Burn said his client “clearly had far too much alcohol”.
He added Hunter had been “flailing his arms around” when the woman was struck.
Sheriff Graham Buchanan ordered Hunter to be jailed for 11 months, plus 98 days in relation to an unexpired portion of a previous sentence.
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