Scotland’s first minister has said a call to strip rugby player Stuart Hogg of his MBE in the wake of his domestic abuse conviction is “reasonable and understandable”.
John Swinney branded the former Scotland rugby captain’s behaviour towards his estranged wife as “incredibly disappointing”.
He added: “I think it’s absolutely reprehensible for men to behave badly in any circumstance of life and one example of that will be domestic abuse.”
He admitted shouting and swearing, tracking her movements and sending her messages which were alarming and distressing in nature.
A court heard how he berated Mrs Hogg for “not being fun” after going on drinking binges with his colleagues, and once sent more than 200 text messages to her in the space of a few hours which caused her to suffer a panic attack.
Image: Stuart and Gillian Hogg in 2017. Pic: Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock
At his sentencing at Selkirk Sheriff Court on Thursday, he was handed a community payback order with one year of supervision and a five-year non-harassment order.
Image: SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn. Pic: PA
Former Glasgow Warriors and Exeter Chiefs full back Hogg, who now plays for French club Montpellier, was awarded the MBE for his services to rugby in last year’s New Year Honours list.
Mr Swinney said: “I think that’s a reasonable and understandable call that Stephen Flynn has made.”
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Hogg was sentenced on Thursday
One of his responsibilities as a male first minister, Mr Swinney said, was to provide “leadership” for men to “behave better in our society”.
Mr Swinney, however, refused to be drawn on whether Hogg’s sentence was too lenient.
“Please don’t take it from me that I’m dismissing your concerns. I just don’t think it’s really appropriate for the first minister to comment about sentencing decisions,” he said.
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