A PORT man has been acquitted on a charge of attacking his ex-partner - after claiming that the woman had taunted him with cheese.

Kevin McGachy, 56, had been accused of pulling the woman's hair - clumps of which were found on a living room floor.

But he told a trial at Greenock Sheriff Court that she had gone 'off her head' and ripped her own hair out.

A prosecutor dismissed the evidence of McGachy, who had also been accused of biting and repeatedly pushing the woman, as an 'attempt to pull the wool over' a sheriff's eyes.

He originally faced charges the of being in possession of cannabis, shouting, swearing and uttering an offensive remark, and assaulting a police officer – but the Crown later chose not to seek a prosecution on these.

Mr McGachy, of West Woodside Avenue, gave evidence at the part-heard trial and explained that both he and the woman had been drinking since around 5pm on December 27, 2020

He described the mood as ‘good’ until his partner’s demeanour ‘changed’ later in the evening.

Mr McGachy said: “She was very aggressive. She was doing things like eating cheese and going right in my face and putting her knee on my groin.

“I don’t like cheese and she was putting it right through her teeth and was in my face.

“Before that we were dancing and things. She just changed for no reason.”

The accused said he was subject to ‘constant attacks’ from the woman throughout the evening and denied causing injuries to her face and hand.

He told the court that she attempted to hit him with a whisky bottle, pushed him into a TV and ‘flung’ a glass ash tray, which he said shattered on the floor.

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Mr McGachy originally faced further charges of being in possession of cannabis at the property, as well as shouting, swearing and uttering a sectarian remark and assaulting an officer at Greenock police office – but these were later dropped by the Crown.

A police witness told the court that officers were called to the address shortly after midnight, with the complainer answering the door.

The officer said: “She was distressed, upset and was crying.

“She had a couple of superficial scratches to her nose and some blood on her right hand.”

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Mr McGachy said: “She came in and sat on the floor in amongst the glass from the ash tray and started pulling her hair out her head.

“She was going off her head, shouting and bawling.”

Fiscal depute Kavan Ryan-Hume said Mr McGachy was ‘downplaying’ his role in the incident by ‘making up nonsense’ about the woman pulling her hair out.

He urged Sheriff James Varney to ‘reject the accused’s version of events’, saying: “It’s an attempt to pull the wool over your eyes.”

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At an earlier hearing, the court heard an audio recording made by Mr McGachy during the incident.

Defence solicitor Amy Spencer noted that ‘significant name calling’ by the complainer could be heard in the recording, with ‘little to no response’ from her client.

Ms Spencer added: “It appears both parties are as bad as each other. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.”

Sheriff Varney found the charge against Mr McGachy to be not proven.