Jacob Foster, 29, was found guilty of pushing Charmaine O’Donnell, 25, to her death on Helensburgh Pier, Argyll and Bute, in April last year. Foster reportedly told a police officer “it was just a bit of fun” after the attack on the charity worker, who suffered serious neck injuries and choked. Foster, who has learning difficulties, had denied murder at a trial at Glasgow High Court. He was convicted of culpable homicide after his lawyers put forward a special plea of diminished responsibility, according to the BBC. O’Donnell, from Glasgow, had been in Helensburgh with a friend, Caitlin McTaggart, on April 23, 2021, when Foster tried to engage in a conversation they were having with three men who were fishing. McTaggart told the court that neither she nor O’Donnell knew him. He recalled hearing a “commotion” and said a person had gone over the railings on the pier. He said he didn’t know who it was at first, but someone shouted, “That’s your friend.” Alex Prentice QC, prosecuting, asked McTaggart: “Did you say anything to Jacob?” She replied: “I was screaming at him to help her. He kept saying, “What have I done? I’ve taken it too far this time. I’ll be gone for a long time.” McTaggart called 999 and PC Gary Davidson attended the scene and spoke to Foster, who is from Helensburgh. The officer told jurors: “He said it was an accident. He said: “I just pushed her. It was just a bit of fun.” “He said he had a few cans that day.” The trial heard from one of the men fishing who said he saw Foster push O’Donnell “with both hands”. She was also overheard by several teenagers who tried to help her. Foster’s lawyers had asked that he be acquitted, saying he had misinterpreted an alleged remark made by O’Donnell because of his mental health problems. Prentice said O’Donnell had been made redundant from her job as an assistant manager at a British Heart Foundation store, adding: ‘She was clearly much loved and her death has brought unspeakable and ongoing grief. “She was described as a loving and selfless person.” O’Donnell’s mother, Jacqueline Gallacher, 50, and her stepfather, William King, 54, paid tribute to her, the BBC reported. They said: “The last 15 months have been the most difficult time we have ever faced. Losing Charmaine changed our lives forever. We will never be the same again. Our hearts are broken. “She had her whole life ahead of her. She had a great personality and sense of humor, warming the hearts of all who met her.”
