A chef has been convicted of terrorising two women in the block of flats he shared with them.
Mohammed Uddin left one woman “fearing for her life” after grabbing her as she made her way to a friend’s car and tried to enter the flat of another while she was home alone with her young baby.
On Tuesday at Perth Sheriff Court he was found guilty of breaching the peace by placing both women in a state of fear and alarm. He was further convicted of a failure to appear at Perth Sheriff Court on October 22 last year.
Uddin, who was previously employed as a chef at Blairgowrie’s Sampan restaurant but now works in Northamptonshire, denied conducting himself in a disorderly manner by approaching Susan Cameron and asking if she lived alone, following her up the stairs, lingering in the hall outside her flat and staring at her property.
The 42-year-old repeatedly rang the block’s entry buzzer requesting entry, and tried the door handle and rattled the letter box at Miss Cameron’s flat in Riverside Court, Blairgowrie between August 2 and 4 last year.
He also denied approaching Clair McDonald asking her where she lived and repeatedly requesting she take him to her flat for a look around, taking hold of her wrist and attempting to pull her into the block of flats and, on a different occasion, staring at Miss McDonald and her friend Kaelay Duncan before asking to enter her flat in Riverside Court on August 4.
Uddin’s solicitor Paul Ralph argued that there was no case to answer due to insufficiency of evidence for a breach of the peace charge.
He said that there was no evidence that Uddin had followed Susan Cameron up the stairs and that they could simply have arrived home at the same time.
He also rejected allegations that Kaelay Duncan had been placed in a state of fear and alarm by Uddin’s actions and that Uddin’s behaviour had not caused a “serious disturbance to the community”.
However, Sheriff Richard McFarlane rejected the submission and ruled that all the witnesses had been credible and reliable.
He deferred sentence until June 15 for reports and Uddin, formerly of Riverside Court, Rattray, was remanded in custody.
