A Tayside hypnotherapist has been cleared of stalking his former partner for two months after the acrimonious breakdown of their relationship.
Michael Walsh – who was cleared of sexually assaulting patients last year – had been accused of causing the woman fear and alarm by staring at her.
She told Perth Sheriff Court that Walsh, 72, had repeatedly followed her and deliberately loitered outside a café he knew she frequented.
Walsh, of George Street, Blairgowrie, was alleged to have engaged in a course of conduct which caused the woman fear or alarm between January 20 and March 9.
However, Sheriff Neil Bowie found him not guilty of the charge after hearing another witness who did not describe the woman displaying fear or alarm.
Walsh told his trial on Monday he had been staying away from his former partner and accused her of trying to intimidate him.
He said their relationship had broken down a few years ago after she had an affair and he is now in a relationship with palliative care nurse Karen Johnstone, 62.
Ms Johnstone said Walsh’s accuser “has caused us nothing but grief for four years”.
She added: “She wants to harm us, is how I feel.
“She told me that if I continued to be in a relationship with Mike then bad things would happen to me. What she said was: ‘I will destroy you’.”
Last year, Walsh was cleared of sexually assaulting patients including a troubled schoolgirl after a trial lasting several days.
Sheriff Gillian Wade found him not guilty after ruling that confusion in the evidence of the girl over the dates of the offence – more than a decade ago – meant she could not be satisfied of his guilt.
She said that without finding him guilty of that offence she could not find him guilty of the other as they could only be proved if one corroborated the other.
