A FORMER Scottish amateur boxing champion was sent to prison for six
years at the High Court in Aberdeen yesterday for killing a woman
outside the city's municipal headquarters.
James McAllister, 30, who won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games
in Edinburgh in 1986, was found guilty after a seven day trial of the
culpable homicide of Lily McClymont, 36, a divorced mother of four.
Relatives of the dead woman cheered and applauded the jury's unanimous
verdict, then broke into tears as McAllister was led from the dock.
Strict security was in force during the trial, and 10 uniformed and
six plainclothes officers were in court for the verdict in case of
trouble between the two families.
McAllister, of Canal Street, Aberdeen, who is unemployed, had denied
killing Mrs McClymont, of Summerfield Place, Aberdeen, in June last year
by punching her in the face and causing her to fall to the ground.
The court was told that the fall caused a fractured skull and brain
injuries and that Mrs McClymont died two days later in hospital. Before
the assault, she and McAllister had been involved in an altercation in a
night club.
Mr Donald Findlay, QC, for McAllister, said the cause of death had
been accidental and that McAllister had never intended to kill her.
There had not been a high degree of violence nor a sustained attack.
''The level of violence is not consistent with fatal injuries,'' said
Mr Findlay. ''It was because she fell and banged her head.''
Lord Abernethy told McAllister, who admitted nine previous convictions
for assault, that he had a dreadful record and that he would be failing
in his public duty if he did not impose a substantial sentence.
He said that while he accepted McAllister had not intended to kill the
woman and that there was no element of premeditation, the force of the
blows must have been considerable.
McAllister was also found guilty of committing the assault while on
bail. Lord Abernethy sentenced him to two months imprisonment on this
charge, to run consecutively.
Mr Peter Smart, a brother of the dead woman, said after the verdict:
''Six years is not enough for taking my sister's life. He has left four
children motherless. He battered her brains in. My sister was not the
drunken fool they tried to make out. She was just a woman who was out
for the night.''
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