Teenager told friend accused had ‘threatened to kill her’, murder trial hears

Joanne Menzies, now 42, had been friends with Caroline Glachan since primary school until she died on August 25 1996.

Her body was found in the river Leven on that date, with three people: Robert O’Brien, 45; Donna Marie Brand and Andrew Kelly, both 44; on trial 27 years later accused of murdering her.

Prosecutors allege they arranged to meet the 14-year-old at a bridge near a towpath beside the river between Renton and Bonhill, West Dunbartonshire.

They are then alleged to have assaulted the schoolgirl, shouted and swore at her and repeatedly kicked and punched her on the head and body.

It is claimed the trio threw bricks or “similar instruments” causing blunt force injuries to her head and body before pushing, or causing her to fall into the river and ultimately murdering her.

O’Brien, Brand and Kelly have all pled not guilty and lodged a special defence of alibi.

At the High Court of Glasgow, jurors heard how the teenager had left Mrs Menzies, who was staying at her house that evening, to go meet O’Brien near the river.

Ms Menzies told the court she had seen O’Brien “attack and bully” the schoolgirl on more than one occasion.

On one occasion, she said the teenager said he threatened her life after she gave a male friend “a birthday kiss”.

Asked by advocate depute Alex Prentice what the consequences would be if she did it again, Ms Menzies said: “He said he would kill her.”

But in cross-examination, Ian Duguid, defending O’Brien, quizzed Ms Menzies on whether she had seen the alleged incidents herself.

She replied: “That was the only one I wasn’t there for. But if Caroline was lying, then there wouldn’t be finger marks on her neck.”

A statement she gave to the police in 1996 was shown to the court, which read: “Robbie grabbed her by the throat with one hand and had run her up against the metal shutters.

“She had bruises up her left arm and she said she had wee marks on her neck but I didn’t see any.

“She also told me that if she gave anyone else a kiss he would kill her or if she finished with him he’d kill her.”

Mr Duguid said: “Did she say that?”

Ms Menzies replied: “Yes, she said that. She was terrified of him.”

On other occasions she said she had witnessed O’Brien grabbing the teenager’s neck, with Ms Menzies and adults trying to break it up.

She also told the court O’Brien was alleged to have been in a relationship with Brand at the same time as Caroline.

Earlier, the court heard from Dr Marjorie Turner, a forensic pathologist, who said Caroline’s cause of death was drowning although she had sustained “significant blows” to her head which rendered her unconscious before she entered the river.

She told the court: “She was still alive when she went into the water. The drowning was the ultimate cause of death.”

However, she told the court the schoolgirl had suffered at least 10 – potentially more – blows to the head, resulting in “obvious blunt force injuries to the face and scalp”.

Given the pattern, which fell from her head to her left cheek, she said it suggested “it is most likely from a weapon that is long and quite narrow, with a rough component to it,” but could also be from punches, kicks and stamps.

The teenager also suffered an “extensive fracture of her skull”, which Dr Turner said could have resulted in “potentially fatal brain damage”.

O’Brien faces a separate charge alleging that on various dates between June 1 1996 and August 25 1996, he assaulted the teenager at locations including Balloch Country Park, Renton, Vale of Leven and “elsewhere in Dunbartonshire”.

It is alleged O’Brien assaulted the teenager by punching her face, placing his hands around her neck and compressing her throat. He denies the charge.

The trial, before judge Lord Braid, continues.