Hot coffee thrown at wife as she and husband rowed at home

A BUSINESSMAN who threw a cup of hot black coffee over his wife of almost half a century before punching and attempting to kick her has been admonished after appearing at Inverness Sheriff Court.

Sentence had been deferred on 71-year-old David Rennie for almost 18 months for him to show the court that he could be of good behaviour after the incident.

Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald heard last Thursday that he had not come to the attention of the police in the time since being found guilty.

However she was also told that Rennie and his wife, who had been married for 47 years before the incident, were still in the throes of an “acrimonious” divorce, and that Rennie had moved out of the pair’s luxury farmhouse.

He is living in a caravan nearby, defence solicitor Neil Wilson told the court.

Sheriff Macdonald decided to admonish Rennie but also told him: “You were convicted of a serious offence and it is clear there are ongoing difficulties between you and your wife.

“I have taken into account the long period of deferral, your good behaviour during that time and the fact you are a first offender.”

Rennie’s trial in February last year heard that the print business boss had not spoken to his 67-year-old spouse for a week before he carried out the attack on her.

He then turned violent when she angrily confronted him in their home at Eight Acres, Farr, near Daviot on December 8, 2017.

Throwing the coffee at her the hot liquid blistered Mrs Rennie’s face and bruised her head and hand the court was told.

Sheriff Chris Dickson, presiding, heard that she had to be treated in Raigmore Hospital by Dr Mark Jansen, who subsequently phoned the police.

Rennie denied assaulting his wife but was found guilty after trial.

He did not give evidence at the trial.

Mrs Rennie told the court she was watching TV with her 47-year-old daughter when her husband came into the kitchen and made a cup of coffee.

She said: “I was fed up of his mood, him ignoring me and his childish behaviour.

“I followed him into the hall and was shouting at him.

“He turned round and threw the cup of coffee over me.”

She said the assault was not an accident, as her husband had later claimed to police.

“He then started punching me and he tried to kick me,” she said.

“Then he said: ‘I will give you another cup of coffee – hotter this time’ and that he would get me with a knife.”

Mrs Rennie added that she was shocked and upset at what her husband had done.

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