AN ALLOA woman has been found guilty of subjecting two women to homophobic abuse on a train last year.

Angela Douglas was convicted of acting in a threatening or abusive manner – with the charge aggravated by a prejudice towards the victims' sexual orientation.

The couple said they were mocked for being gay and were made to feel unsafe while travelling on the Glasgow Queen Street to Alloa service on May 1.

Douglas called them "disgusting" for kissing openly on the carriage, though the accused claimed her comments were not motivated by their sexuality.

Her lawyer also repeatedly questioned the two complainers about their sexual behaviour on the train.

Police issued an appeal for information shortly after the incident, sparking a notable public response which was then bolstered by a blog post from one of the complainers.

In her column, Sarah Drummond said she and her partner would love to initiate a small Alloa Pride event to help tackle "outdated attitudes".

Indeed, the idea became so successful that in August last year around 200 people took part in a rainbow-clad march through the town.

The case against Douglas called for trial at Stirling Sheriff Court on Wednesday, January 19, with Sheriff William Gilchrist presiding.

Fiscal depute Jennifer Harkin called on Ms Drummond to give her account of the incident.


Picked out

The witness said she and her partner Louise Downe felt "threatened" after being picked out because they were together.

She told the court: "We were sitting next to each other on the train to Stirling and there were a group of people of, I think, around 12 people to the right-hand side.

"They were initially in good spirits and were laughing. Then I heard some whispering and I started to get really nervous."

Ms Drummond said they were both branded "disgusting" and heard the word "lesbians" used to described them in what she felt was a derogatory manner.

She then said that Douglas tried to persuade others in her company to get their phones out, take pictures of them and put them up on Facebook.

She added: "They singled us out because of who we are – and the fact she asked people to take photographs of us, made us feel unsafe.

"We felt threatened and left the carriage. I then had a panic attack; I've never felt like that before."

Ms Drummond's evidence was largely echoed by her partner Ms Downe who said: "Initially, everyone in the train seemed to be having a good time. They were in a buoyant mood.

"At some point in the journey I went over to kiss Sarah and noticed that everyone had gone quiet; that there was less speaking.

"I started hearing whispering and a few things that were directed to us. I heard the word lesbian and one person said: 'that's disgusting'."

Ms Harkin asked which member of the group was making the comments, to which she identified Douglas in the dock.

The witness then spoke about the accused encouraging others to take pictures, after saying: "I don't want to see that."

When asked how she felt, Ms Downe replied: "Threatened. It's the first time I've ever experienced something like that. I didn't get on the train expecting something like that to happen."

"I got up to leave and I felt like I needed to say something, so I said to her: 'I hope you're proud of yourself'."

Ms Harkin asked: "What was the response from the accused?"

Ms Downe said: "I'm proud of who I am."

She added: "We were a bit scared, to be honest. We went looking for a train guard, but I think they had already passed by us in the other direction and we didn't want to walk past that group again because we weren't sure if the abuse would continue.

"We then contacted ScotRail through Twitter. I wasn't sure this kind of thing would be taken seriously by police, but we decided to report it anyway.

"Sarah wrote a blog post about; I think it helped her to talk about it."


Conduct

Both women were cross-examined by Douglas' defence agent Gordon Martin who quizzed them about their sexual behaviour on the day.

He argued that his client had simply been annoyed because the two had been acting in a "sexualised fashion" by kissing and touching each other inappropriately.

The lawyer also accused them of "ramming their affections for each other down the throats of all other people on the train".

He asked Ms Drummond: "Is it not the case that you two were picked out because of your inappropriate sexual conduct?"

She replied: "No, I believe we were picked out for our sexuality."

Mr Martin then said: "At no stage did she suggest to people to take out their phones and take photographs, and at no stage did she shout or threaten you.

"You decided to put on a show and, as a result, the reaction you got was that you were told it was disgusting.

"You and your partner then trounced off in a huff so you could protest about it online at some later stage."

Ms Drummond vehemently denied the defence submission, and told the court: "We were singled out because we are gay. We were described as lesbians and in the context that it was used, it was offensive."

Later, when questioning Ms Downe, the defence agent again argued that the two women had been "fondling" each other.

He referenced Ms Drummond's blog post and suggested that the couple had made a "song and dance" of the incident as part of a campaign for equality.

She replied: "We weren't doing anything that should have attracted that kind of attention. A train in the middle of the afternoon is not a particularly romantic setting."

Ms Downe added: "I don't think kissing someone on a train is undue sexual conduct. And I can honestly say that [touching] did not happen. We were very aware of where we were."

Mr Martin then suggested: "These comments were made in the context of you two fondling each other; sexuality was not mentioned. You and your partner wanted to make a song and dance about it – to put on a show and make a stand."

Ms Downe replied: "Two people should be able to kiss in public, no matter who they are.

"We've never seen ourselves as campaigners; we are who we are, and we chose to be together."

Depute fiscal Harkin then called Detective Constable Nicholas Ritchie, of the British Transport Police, to give evidence and heard that in the course of his initial investigation he came across a Facebook entry from the accused.

Posted online shortly after the incident took place, it read: "Oh...boke 2 girls givin tonsil tennis wi each other."

The BTP had already circulated a press release asking for witnesses to come forward and it was the accused who contacted the police herself.

When interviewed, Douglas told DC Ritchie that the two women had been touching each other.

However, the court heard that the CCTV footage could not be obtained due to a failure of the system, according to ScotRail.


'I'm not homophobic'

Douglas then gave evidence on her own behalf and denied any claim she was being homophobic when she called the two women disgusting.

She said she and the group had been returning from a hen party in Glasgow and had noticed the couple sitting diagonally across from them in the carriage.

Douglas claimed the couple were kissing "full-on" and that one had her hands over the other's "breast and groin areas".

When asked why she was disgusted, Douglas said: "It was just inappropriate. If it had been a man and woman touching like that, it would have been inappropriate."

The accused also denied using the word lesbian and asking others to take pictures and put them up on Facebook.

Mr Martin asked why she posted her Facebook status, to which she replied: "No real reason."

And when quizzed about why she made no mentioned of the two women touching each other, in either the post or the replies, she said: "I just thought I would keep it low key on Facebook."

Douglas told the court that her comments had nothing to do with the complainers' sexuality and claimed both women "went away laughing" when they left the carriage.

In cross examination she added: "There was nothing to say they were frightened, because they had nothing to be frightened of. All I said was they were disgusting."

The defence then called five further witnesses, four of whom had been in the accused's company during the train journey that day.

All four denied claims that Douglas had used the word lesbian and challenged any suggestion they they were there to "lie for their pal".

The last person called by the defence was a colleague of the accused, who came as a character witness.

The woman, who was herself in a same-sex relationship, said Douglas had met her partner and there had been "no difficulties".

In her closing argument, Ms Harkin spoke to the reliability and credibility of both Ms Drummond and Ms Downe, who both talked to feeling so threatened that they left the carriage.

Mr Martin stated that any comments made by his client was simply a reaction to what he argued was sexualised behaviour on the part of the two women.

However, Sheriff Gilchrist found Douglas guilty after ruling the alleged conduct of the complainers was not relevant to the actions of the accused.

He said: "I don't think the witnesses would have reacted in the way in which they did, had all that was said been that suggested by the defence."

Finding the homophobic aggravation had been established, he turned to Douglas and said: "You should not have reacted in the way in which you did and the way you reacted constitutes an offence."

Douglas, of Argyll Place, Alloa, was then fined £200.