A prosecutor has denied using his powerful position to frighten one of his husband’s hair salon beauticians with deportation.
David Wilkie-Thorburn sent Venda Rodrigues a chilling message via Facebook Messenger claiming he made deportation recommendations.
Wilkie-Thorburn, 52, is assistant procurator fiscal for Grampian Highlands and Islands for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
Yesterday, he sat in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, where he is responsible for overseeing the running of criminal cases.
He is accused of sending a message of “grossly offensive or indecent, obscene or menacing character” in the early hours of April 7.
The court heard Wilkie-Thorburn’s husband Neil was on the brink of losing Venda, who hired a chair in his salon, to a rival salon next door.
Neil Wilkie-Thorburn, 58, who married the Aberdeen-based prosecutor two years ago, runs Wilks Hair Studio in the city’s Huntly Street.
He was angry when nail technicians, sisters Katty and Merlin Ramos, walked out and launched K&M Nails next door in a former florist’s.
And he was hurt when Venda, who came from India with her four children to join her husband Milton in Aberdeen two years ago, also said she was quitting to join the Ramos sisters.
Venda, 39, said she could attract more clients working alongside the girls but was scared to leave Neil’s salon where she did three days a week.
She told the court she made up a story claiming she needed a job that would give her regular payslips to help her renew her work visa.
But she admitted it was just a ruse to get away from Neil who by offering to help her with a full-time job, left her feeling “trapped”.
After visiting a Citizens Advice Bureau, she handed in her notice on Saturday, April 6, but was shocked to receive a message from Neil’s husband the next morning.
The 1.22am message, which the defence does not dispute was sent by the accused, had an image of David and Neil at the top.
In it, David Wilkie-Thorburn said: “I don’t know if you know what I do but it might be informative for you to know I am the head of prosecution in Grampian.”
He added that he had responsibility for making prosecutions for the HMRC, serious fraud and immigrations cases.
He further claimed he could make recommendations on who should get expelled from the country. Venda said: “I’d just woken up and when I saw it I thought, ‘Oh my God, what should I do? I was terrified.
“I thought ‘What’s going to happen to me’?”
Venda’s husband, 45-year-old careworker Milton, told the court his wife was legally in the country as his spouse on his Portugese passport.
In their evidence the couple both said the message had impacted on their family life.
Venda said when she went to collect her chair and equipment from Neil, he’d chucked them into the street.
The case, before Sheriff Ian Duguid QC, is being prosecuted by Laura Mundell, procurator fiscal for north Strathclyde.
It was adjourned until December.
