A ONE-legged drug addict threatened a father-of-two with a hypodermic needle in front of his children, a court heard today. Rebecca Mughal pulled the syringe out at Mr Robert Wilkinson after he caught her taking drugs in the stairwell to his Edinburgh flat.
Mughal, 27, is on trial accused of threatening Mr Wilkinson with violence, shouting and swearing and threatening to stab him with a hypodermic needle in the common stair to 139 Lauriston Place in the city in May. She denies the allegations.
Mr Wil
kinson, who is the Associate Dean of Napier University Business School, told the court the door lock had been broken before the incident and was due to be replaced by Edinburgh City Council. In the two months since it was broken the couple had found syringes and other drug-taking equipment in the close several times.
On May 13, he and his wife were leaving their home with their children aged 12 and 13 when they noticed Mughal in the stairwell with a man. When Wilkinson told the pair to leave, Mughal replied: "We need somewhere to shoot our smack in"
"I said 'well you are not doing it in here, get out'," said Mr Wilkinson, 43. He stated that the pair were making their way towards the door when Mughal turned round, saying 'well I can stick something in you'. "At that point there was a short jab. I couldn't say it was an attempted stab but it was certainly showing a motion."
"I was aware there was drug use and I was aware what that needle could be," he added.
The trial continues.
The full article contains 279 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
