Edinburgh man denies wedding night nail gun threat to new wife and ‘stubbing out cigarettes’ on her chest

A NEWLY-MARRIED man stubbed out cigarettes on his bride’s chest and threatened to shoot her with a nail gun on the couple’s wedding night, a court has heard.

Andrew Hunter is alleged to have attacked new spouse Gillian Hunter with the cigarette butts just hours after the pair got hitched in a ceremony in Edinburgh.

Hunter, 60, is also said to have made the nail gun threat as he attacked his wife after claiming she had been flirting with a friend of his during the wedding celebrations.

The woman, who has since split from Hunter, also claims her husband smashed her head off a concrete floor and threw her out of their house naked during several incidents over years of domestic abuse.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court. Pic: Ian Georgeson

A second victim, Margaret Martin, claims Hunter also abused her by head butting her to the face during one violent confrontation while the pair were a couple in 2004.

Hunter, from Redbraes, Edinburgh, denies the allegations and is standing trial on a summary complaint in front of Sheriff Adrian Cottam at the capital’s sheriff court this week.

On Monday, the court was told Hunter and his wife Gillian met on an internet dating site in 2006 and married each other two years later.

Mrs Hunter, 56, said her wedding night ended in violence at the couple’s home in the Muirhouse area of the city after Hunter accused her of “flirting” with one of his friends.

She said: “He came through to the bedroom and ripped my stockings off. He pinned me down on the bed and threatened to use a nail gun on me.

“He then stubbed out cigarettes on my chest. I tried to shout and scream but he put his hand over my mouth.”

Mrs Hunter said the violence against her took place “almost every weekend” and usually when Hunter came back home from the pub.

And during separate “horrific” incidents over the course of their marriage Mrs Hunter alleged her husband pulled her hair out after ripping off a wig she was wearing while he also allegedly made death threats to her and her family.

She also claimed Hunter attacked her on several occasions including an incident where she said she was left unconscious after he had thrown her into the common stairwell while she was naked.

Mrs Hunter, a mother of two, admitted to the court she had been “a fool” for resuming her relationship with Hunter after she left him around seven times over the years.

Former partner Margaret Martin, 54, told the court she had been in a relationship with Hunter between 2001 and 2004 after meeting him at Gilmerton bowling club in the capital.

Miss Martin said during one alleged incident Hunter pulled her from her bed and “head-butted” her to the face leaving her with a burst nose and heavy facial bruising.

Miss Martin, who now lives in Wales, said: “I went upstairs to get into my pyjamas and was (subsequently) woken by “a raging Andrew”.

“He was being very aggressive with me and was hitting me - then he head-butted me. He scruffed me up and shook me.”

Miss Martin also said she went back to Hunter on several occasions following the alleged incidents of abuse because she “was scared of him” but eventually left him a few months later.

Hunter denies a series of violent attacks on the two women between December 2004 and April 2017 and the trial continues this week.

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