A Raith Rovers football legend injured his ex-wife’s new partner during a “struggle” and made derogatory comments about her, a court has heard.
Footballer Iain Davidson, who now plays for Cowdenbeath, parked in front of a car occupied by the couple, then got out and called her a “slut, bitch and whore” during the unsavoury incident in Kennoway.
38-year-old ex-Dundee star Davidson had learned that day she was in a new relationship with the son of a friend, Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard.
Procurator fiscal depute Dev Kapadia said Davidson and the woman were married for 18 months before their relationship came to an end in March this year.
A few months later, on August 2, he contacted her to ask if he could collect the last of his belongings from her house.
She told him she was with a new man and would be returning to the address and asked if it could be dealt with another time.
The court heard there was an “exchange of words” between the woman and Davidson, who was already outside the house.
As the woman and her new partner returned home, the man was manoeuvring the vehicle when Davidson parked his car in front of it.
Both men got out of their cars.
Street struggle
The fiscal depute continued: “The accused called the complainer a slut, bitch and whore.
“This upset Mrs Davidson and she called on (the man) to get back in the car so that they could leave.
“The accused then came towards him and there was a meeting of the two men which ended up in a struggle, as a result of which (the victim) sustained superficial grazing to the right ankle, knee and his eye.
“He did not require any medical attention”.
Police were contacted and onlookers in the street stepped in to de-escalate the situation.
Davidson pled guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner, aggravated by the fact it involved abuse of his former partner.
‘One-off incident’
Defence lawyer Dewar Spence described it as a “one-off” incident and said Davidson expressed remorse for his actions.
The solicitor explained Davidson was friends with his victim’s father and nothing had previously been said about his ex-wife being in a relationship with him.
Mr Spence said: “This was the day he became aware because of something said in that phone call by the woman.”
The lawyer said although his client accepts he made derogatory comments, these were “not necessarily at her” and the incident was “over and done with very quickly”.
Mr Spence said Davidson has no previous convictions.
The solicitor described his client as someone who is “employed part time in the sports industry”.
Long football career
Sheriff Maryam Labaki said she understood “tempers flared” and remarked these were gender-based derogatory comments.
The sheriff deferred sentenced on Davidson for six months for him to be of good behaviour.
He is due to return to court on June 6 next year.
He was also made subject to a six-month non-harassment order against the woman.
Davidson had two spells at Raith Rovers during his football career and made 507 appearances for the club.
His time at Raith came to an ignominious end last year after he was banned for using discriminatory language towards Bulgarian forward Nikolay Todorov, who now plays for Dunfermline.
He had spent years at Dundee and had two spells with Brechin City.
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