Larkhall mum woke to discover son bleeding from stab wounds

Jun 25 2009 by Alastair McNeill, Hamilton Advertiser

A LARKHALL mother told a court this week that she awoke to find her son bleeding from stab wounds.

Giving evidence on Monday on the first day of a trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court, Elizabeth Reay said she was drunk and sleeping on a couch in the living room of her boyfriend’s house in the town’s Avon Road on June 3, 2008.

However, her friend Lorna McLean woke her up to tell her that her son, Jamie Dunsmore, had been stabbed.

Ms Reay said she saw her son lying under a bird cage in the room in a “delirious” state.

She added that she could see blood on a towel, which had been applied to his chest area.

Questioned by fiscal depute Barry Dunne, Mrs Rae also explained that, on waking up, she saw the accused, John Deans, walking on the road outside.

She said: “He wasn’t running or anything like that.”

Ms Reay also told the court: “I can’t say who did this because I never saw nothing. Everybody’s got a right to walk down the street.”

Deans - of Glen Avenue, Larkhall - had pleaded not guilty to a charge of repeatedly striking Jamie Dunsmore on the body with a knife to his severe injury and permanent impairment and to the danger of his life, while on bail.

On the second day of the trial, the Crown indicated that it was not proceeding further with evidence and Deans was acquitted by Sheriff Joyce Powrie.