A Scottish rugby international has been suspended from playing with Glasgow Warriors after subjecting his girlfriend to two years of abuse.
Rufus McLean, who plays for the club and has three caps for his country, pled guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to the emotional and physical abuse.
The 22-year-old, from Glasgow, left his girlfriend with a burst lip and black eye after pushing her off him during one incident, the Daily Record reports.
READ MORE: Boy, 15, charged after baby hit in head by brick thrown through Glasgow bus window
He also demanded passwords to her social media accounts and told her she must keep a ‘tracker’ service running on her phone.
When she posted photos of herself in clothes to go clubbing with pals in Spain, McLean messaged to call her a “sl*g” and demand she change.
McLean appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Wednesday for sentencing after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing.
The court heard previously in an agreed narrative how McLean and Cara were in an “on/off” relationship for four years and together “properly” for two years between April 2019 and May 2021.
Cara described McLean, of Glasgow, as “emotionally abusive and controlling”.
In the summer of 2019, the court was told she was on a Spanish holiday and McLean “took exception” to what she was wearing from a social media post.
McLean messaged to say she looked like a ‘sl*g’ and told her to change, but Cara refused and went out. The court heard McLean started messaging Cara and her friends using derogatory language, telling her to leave the club.
In January 2021, the couple were in McLean’s Glasgow flat when Cara woke him up to talk. McLean reacted by pushing her off him, causing Cara’s lip to be burst and a black eye to appear, the court was told.
She was left “frightened” by the incident and photographed her injuries to show her mum.
On March 11 2020, the pair were in Edinburgh when McLean saw Cara’s Instagram and a photo of her with a man that she’d previously been on a date with. The court heard McLean exclaimed ‘What the f**k is this?” and became “irate”. He pushed her on the chest and she fell while “pleading with him to stop”.
Police were alerted to an “ongoing domestic incident” and attended the address to find Cara crying and suffering from redness to her arm. She told officers how McLean would message her friends to find out where she was and demanded she turn on “locator services” on her phone so he could check where she’d been.
Cara disclosed how McLean demanded passwords for her social media accounts and challenged her if they were changed.
Defence agent Iain Smith asked Sheriff Matthew Auchincloss to consider giving McLean an “absolute discharge” - a move which would leave him without a criminal record.
Sheriff Auchincloss said he wasn’t persuaded by arguments to give McLean an absolute discharge.
The sheriff told him it “wasn’t a one-off incident” and deferred sentence until next month to allow a report to be prepared on McLean’s suitability for the Caledonian Men’s Project aimed at addressing the behaviour of male domestic abusers.
Sheriff Auchincloss said he would consider the imposition of a non-harassment order against McLean at the next hearing.
McLean, who was first called up to the Scotland squad in March 2021 for the Six Nations, now faces a potential end to his sporting career.
In a statement, Glasgow Warriors said: "Rufus McLean is suspended from all club activity and is unavailable for selection following a guilty plea to charges under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 in December 2022.
"Glasgow Warriors does not condone abuse of any kind and therefore, along with Scottish Rugby, immediately suspended the player following his plea.
"An internal investigation has been instigated and a disciplinary hearing will be held this week."
READ NEXT:
Gang kick in pregnant mum's front door and steal cars in dead of night
Glasgow man ordered to chop down 50ft trees that stop neighbour's clothes drying
Farmer facing prison after driver crushed to death by runaway tractor with defective brakes
Glasgow woman marries rapist serving 20 years in US prison after 9-month relationship
Prison guards flank gangland killer Paul Lyons as he's allowed out of jail for dad's funeral
