Amber Gibson: Man goes on trial accused of strangling sister to death
- Published
Sixteen-year-old Amber Gibson was killed in November 2021
A 20-year-old man has gone on trial accused of strangling his teenage sister to death in Hamilton.
Connor Gibson has been accused of sexually assaulting and murdering 16-year-old Amber Gibson in November 2021. A second man is also accused of trying to defeat the ends of justice.
The body of the teenager was found in the town's Cadzow Glen, days after she was last seen.
The trial at the high court in Glasgow got under way on Thursday.
Mr Gibson faces claims he got rid of clothes he had been wearing and called the children's home Amber was staying at to pretend she was still alive.
He is accused of removing Amber's clothes and sexually assaulting her. It is claimed Gibson repeatedly inflicted blunt force trauma to her head and body as well as compressing her neck with his hands and did so with intent to rape her.
Mr Gibson is alleged to have told police he last saw his sister after she walked off from an argument near a community centre in Hamilton on the day she died.
He is also charged with disposing of evidence after it is claimed he binned his own bloodstained clothing in an attempt to defeat the ends of justice.
The accused was on bail at the time of the murder.
Not a 'good mix'
The court heard from the siblings' foster carer, Craig Niven, who said Amber was three and Mr Gibson was five when he fostered them with his wife, Carol.
Amber left their care in 2019. Mr Gibson left after he turned 18 in 2020.
Mr Niven told the court the siblings could not be left in each others' company as they were not a good mix.
He said that he spoke to Mr Gibson on the phone in the days after Amber's body was found.
According to Mr Niven, Mr Gibson said he argued with his sister before seeing her later that Friday night.
He added the accused did not "seem emotional" during the conversation.
Amber's body was found in Cadzow Glen, days after she was last seen
The manager of the children's unit Amber was staying in also gave evidence on Thursday.
Ian Currie said Amber left at about 21:15 on Friday 26 November to meet her brother. He said he tried to discourage her from going out as it was a wintry, windy night.
He said when he started his shift the next day he was made aware Amber had not returned which he said was unusual.
Mr Currie described how he drove around the area looking for her. The next day police told him a female body had been found.
The court also heard evidence from a friend of Amber's who stayed with her at the children's unit. Angel McKean said she had regarded the teenager as a "wee sister".
The 19-year-old recalled seeing Amber at the unit on the night of the alleged murder.
Miss McKean told the court: "She said that she was going to meet her brother and seemed quite excited about it."
The witness said she did not see Amber again - however, she recalled getting sent a photo from her via Snapchat that night.
It was timed at 21:51 on 26 November. Jurors were shown the "selfie-style" picture of Amber with a male in a baseball cap with the caption "my big bro".
Co-accused
Another man- Stephen Corrigan, 44 is also on trial in relation to circumstances surrounding the discovery of her remains.
It is claimed Mr Corrigan found Amber's body, but rather than alert police, he inappropriately touched her and then hid her remains under bushes and branches.
He is accused of a breach of the peace and trying to defeat the ends of justice. Mr Corrigan has lodged a special defence of alibi saying he was elsewhere at the time.
Both men deny all the charges against them.