An Aberdeen man on holiday in Thailand has claimed bad cocaine made him tell a woman he’d briefly dated she was “woke” before threatening to kill her.
John Millar, 40, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he admitted sending his ex more than 150 abusive voice messages, which included racism and murder threats.
It was stated that Millar – a painter and decorator – made various racist slurs against Muslims before telling the woman he would “cave their skulls in”.
He then turned on the woman, who he’d only dated for a few months, using offensive homophobic language, calling her a “lesbian” and “woke” before threatening to kill her if she continued to ignore his messages.
Millar was arrested by police at Aberdeen International Airport as he arrived back in the country.
His solicitor, Ian Woodward-Nutt, said that his client had been drinking heavily before buying what he thought was cocaine while on holiday in Thailand and he had a “strange and unpleasant” reaction.
‘I’ll kill you’
Fiscal depute Anne Mann told the court that Millar travelled to Thailand for a holiday at the end of last month.
At around 8pm on November 28, Millar sent the woman a series of voice notes on WhatsApp.
The initial context of the messages was that Millar had witnessed a group of men encouraging a young woman into a hotel.
Millar then sent another voice message, using a racist slur against Muslims and people from Pakistan.
He added that he would “kick their doors in and cave their skulls in”.
Ms Mann told the court that Millar continued to send voice notes to the woman, claiming that if she had been there she would have “taken their side” before going on to call her a “woke b******”.
Further messages followed where he called her various offensive names, including “a b******, a lesbian and a c***”.
Millar continued to send messages where he also told the woman that “if I find out you’re ignoring my voice notes I’ll kill you”.
After this he sent approximately 150 further voice notes, each over a minute long.
The woman then contacted the police and arrangements were made to intercept and arrest Millar as he arrived home in Aberdeen International Airport.
In the dock, Millar pleaded guilty to one count of sending electronic communications that were grossly offensive, or of an indecent, obscene or menacing nature.
The charge was aggravated by prejudice relating to race, nationality or ethnicity origins.
Defence solicitor Ian Woodward-Nutt told the court that, from his client’s perspective, relations between him and the woman were good so there was “no reason why he sent the messages he did”.
“Mr Millar was heavily under the influence of alcohol and purchased something he thought was cocaine,” the solicitor said.
“He then suffered a strange and unpleasant reaction to that substance – after that his memory of events is somewhat sketchy.”
Mr Woodward-Nutt described Millar as “horrified and ashamed” by the voicemails he sent to the woman.
“Mr Millar has asked me to extend a public apology to the complainer for this incident,” he added.
Sentencing Millar, Sheriff Frances McCartney told him that the “large number” messages he sent were “grossly offensive”.
He told Millar that the fact that he had no previous convictions allowed him to treat this incident as “out of character”, but said he had “to reflect on the truly offensive nature” of the offences.
Sheriff McCartney fined Millar, of Cairngorm Gardens, Aberdeen, a total of £1,040 and put a non-harassment order in place, meaning he cannot approach or contact his victim for two years.
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