SNP councillor’s cat poisoned in ‘campaign of harassment’

Julie McKenzie said she and her family had suffered abuse since she was first elected in 2016.

The SNP councillor for Oban North and Lorn, Julie McKenzie, claims to have suffered a “campaign of harassment” since her election in 2016.

The 46-year-old said the poisoning of her cat in May was the latest in a string of threatening incidents that saw her tyres slashed and a rock being thrown through her window.

Speaking to the Daily Record, Ms McKenzie said the motive for the harassment “seemed to be political”, insisting that her family were not targeted before she became a councillor.

Julie McKenzie said she and her family had suffered abuse since she was first elected in 2016.

“I can’t think of any other reason for it. We never suffered any harassment prior to me being elected in 2016,” she said.

Aside from the abuse she faced on social media and by email, Ms McKenzie also said opponents had put something “revolting” through her letterbox.

She said she moved house in October because her children were “seriously” bullied at school.

“I just wanted my kids out of that situation,” she said.

But the councillor said relocating did not help, after discovering her cat, Rowan, covered in a “strange, sticky substance” that she identified as garlic last month.

“I googled cats and garlic and that’s when I got a real fright, because it became immediately obvious that garlic can be a real problem for cats.

“It was an attempt to kill the cat,” she added.

After reporting the incident to Police Scotland, a woman has since been reported to the procurator fiscal by officers.

“We just want to be left alone,” the councillor said, “so my kids can be kids, free from any form of harassment at their home, and where I can do my job.

“The things that keep happening to my family seem to be forming a pattern. This is not normal.

“I would hope that we could live in a more tolerant society, where everybody is accepting of differing views, without resorting to abusing politicians.”

Ms McKenzie condemned political harassment, and insisted that: “We have to have a cohesive, cross-party response to it. I don’t think growing a thicker skin is the answer. I think challenging it head on is the answer.

“Every area of my life has been targeted,” she said, “I refuse to uproot my family again from the part of Scotland we are from, and the part of Scotland I was elected to serve.”

A Police Scotland spokesman said: “Around 4:55pm on 14 May, 2020, police received a report of an unknown substance being found in a garden. As a result of enquiries, a 50-year-old woman has been reported to the Procurator Fiscal.

“She was not arrested and charged and therefore was not released on an undertaking.”

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