A COURT has heard how the alleged ‘abusive’ actions of a Greenock man were ‘slowly killing’ a teenage boy over the course of almost three years.

Paul Murtagh, 42, denies a charge of acting aggressively towards the teen between July 2021 and January this year.

It is alleged he shouted, swore and uttered threats of violence towards him at a property in Greenock – as well as repeatedly moving the teen's possessions.

Murtagh was employed as a secondary school teacher in Inverclyde at the time of the alleged offence, though Inverclyde Council previously confirmed he is no longer employed by the local authority.

The trial, which started at Greenock Sheriff Court in August, previously heard evidence from the teenage complainer, who said Murtagh made him feel ‘downgraded’.

READ MORE: Greenock teacher denies 'threatening behaviour' to teen 

He described secretly setting up an Apple MacBook to record in his bedroom while he was out on Christmas Day in 2023, with the device capturing footage of a man entering the room, picking up discs and placing them in a different location before exiting.

The trial continued before Sheriff Sean Lynch, with the court hearing evidence from a second witness who described how she had confronted Murtagh after seeing the footage.

While the footage did not show a face, the witness noted that she recognised it to be Murtagh from his ‘physical form’ and clothing.

The court heard that over the years, the teenager’s glasses disappeared ‘on many occasions’, as well as a passport, bank cards and several bus passes.

The witness said the video, shown to her on January 13, opened her eyes to ‘lots of unanswered questions’ around Murtagh's behaviour.

(Image: Newsquest)

She told the court: “I think I showed Paul the video three times before he actually vocalised anything.

“He started to become red. He started to rub his head.

“There was a general minimisation and then he admitted it, that he was in the video and he was moving his belongings.

“Paul looked upset and looked like somebody who had just been caught.”

The woman said she had highlighted concerns regarding the complainer's mental state in the weeks before she saw the video.

She described the teenager as presenting like ‘a child who was traumatised’ and that he was ‘becoming increasingly withdrawn’ and ‘disassociating’.

At a previous hearing, the complainer said: “I stay in routine and I put things in specific places so that I know where they are.

“He would hide them in the most random places."

In WhatsApp messages exchanged with Murtagh in the days after she was shown the video, the woman described his alleged actions as ‘cold and calculated’.

He wrote: “I deserve to go to jail.”

The witness replied: “You were slowly killing [the complainer]. Why?”

Murtagh said: “I don’t know.

“He just made my blood boil from time to time, but he didn’t deserve that.”

Defence solicitor Edward Sweeney asked the witness if she knew Murtagh to have a ‘habit’ of picking up discs and returning them to their cases to prevent them getting scratched.

She said: “I never noticed that.”

The part-heard trial is due to continue on October 30.