A domestic abuser who stole an urn full of ashes from his victim during a bullying campaign has been banned from contacting her for two years.
Douglas Giblin took the dog’s ashes during harassment spanning four years.
Jealous Giblin, 57, took over his partially blind partner’s social media accounts to pose as her and stole her special glasses so she was unable to see.
He also downloaded the Scrabble word game app in a bizarre bid to contact her after she cut off other channels of communication in a bid to end the bullying.
Repeated abuse
Dundee Sheriff Court heard Giblin would regularly buy gifts for the woman, including curtains, and would then demand she hand them back if he was unhappy with her.
Giblin, of Hill Road, Ballingry, admitted a revenge porn charge after threatening to disclose a naked image of the woman to her parents on July 24 2017.
He also admitted stalking her by turning up at her work, following her and staring at her between July 25 2017 and November 1 2018, and between July 1 and August 30 2021.
Finally, he admitted engaging in a course of domestic bullying between April 1 2019 and July 24 2021 and it was during this period that he took the urn containing her dog’s ashes.
Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown imposed a two-year non-harassment order and placed Giblin under social work supervision for the same period as an alternative to custody.
He was ordered to attend the Caledonian Programme for domestic abusers.
Ashes and Scrabble
Fiscal depute Lynn Mannion told the court: “He would question why she had male friends.
“This continued throughout the relationship.
“She would check her social media and text messages and he would ask about them.
“The relationship continued to be on and off.”
Ms Mannion said: “He would stare at her from his vehicle.
“He told her things he could only know if he was watching her address.
“The accused would often buy gifts and if they fell out he would demand the items back.
“On one occasion he took an urn containing her former pet dog’s ashes and he refused to return this.
“She didn’t want her children to find out the dog’s ashes had gone.
“She contacted him to demand them back and they were eventually returned.
“She would play Scrabble through an online app.
“He became aware of that and downloaded the app to try and make contact with her.
“She blocked him on Scrabble.”
Holiday threat
Ms Mannion said Giblin would approach males if they spoke to the woman while they were out and he regularly accused her of lying and cheating on him.
“At one stage, the accused refused to allow her to leave and took her glasses, knowing she couldn’t see without them – being totally blind in one eye and having limited vision in the other.
“She managed to open a window and began to shout for help.
“He pulled her in and closed the window.
“He then returned her glasses and apologised.”
The prosecutor told the court the woman, who cannot be named, had arranged a holiday in Gran Canaria with her father and Giblin had found out about it.
The court was told he threatened to meet them at the airport and she spent the remainder of the holiday in fear her abuser would turn up at their hotel.
Ms Mannion said Giblin did not follow through on his threat but he later deliberately poured lemonade on her carpet as the abuse continued until July 2021.
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