Teen stabbed with broken bottle returns to scene of attempted murder

A teenager who was stabbed in the neck with a broken bottle by a stranger has returned to the scene of the attempted murder.

Conall Morrison walked STV News through his ordeal on the day that attacker Paula Macaulay was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison.

The then 16-year-old from Coatbridge was with a group of friends in Glasgow city centre on August 14, 2023, when he noticed two girls in distress in the company of a woman.

He was able to lead the girls away from the area, but shortly after, he met the same woman with a male associate on Osborne Street.

An altercation took place, and the woman, now known to be Macaulay, stabbed Conall in the neck with a broken gin bottle.

Returning to the area where the attack unfolded, Conall said he still struggles with memories of what happened.

A lamp post behind the popular St Enoch shopping centre reminds the teenager of where he believed he was going to die.

“I didn’t realise I had been stabbed until I heard my friends shouting”, Conall told STV News on Osborne Street.

“I instinctively put my hand to my neck, and it was covered in blood.

“I remember the street lights flickering.

“I fell to my knees and collapsed onto my side. I thought I was going to die. I think I died twice in the ambulance.”

The teenager staggered away from the scene before collapsing on the ground while his friends flagged down British Transport Police officers.

After being rushed to hospital, Conall underwent life-saving surgery and required a blood transfusion. The wound to his neck, only two centimetres away from his main artery, took 14 staples to close.

Although lucky to have survived, the teenager, now 18, says his life has been “destroyed”.

‘It destroyed a lot of things in my life’

Macaulay had initially pleaded not guilty and remained on bail until the day trial jurors were set to be sworn in in July this year.

The 43-year-old pled guilty to attempted murder while acting under provocation and was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison at the High Court in Glasgow.

Conall told STV News that the ordeal still affects his life every day.

“It affects my mood quite a bit. I feel like I lost myself. I was quite a bubbly person, but it destroyed a lot of friendships and relationships

“I developed anxiety and severe depression, it’s destroyed a lot of things in life. It made life a lot more difficult.

“Getting back to the person I was is work day by day. Life goes on.”

Conall Morrison required 14 staples to close the wound in his neck. Supplied

Passing sentence, Lord Young praised the skill of the surgeons who worked on Conall after the attack.

He said: “Had it not been for the response of the emergency services and the skill of surgeons who operated on the complainer, you could have been facing a charge of murder.”

The court heard how Macaulay fled the scene after stabbing the teenager.

She was found by police having been spotted outside a post office in nearby Glassford Street.

Conall Morrison was stabbed by Paula Macaulay STV News

She claimed the others had been “jumping” on her male friend and that she had also been assaulted, including having food thrown at her.

Lord Young told Macaulay that she would have received a six-and-a-half-year term if she hadn’t pleaded guilty.

Speaking on the sentencing, Conall added: “The process was exhausting, I just wanted it to be finished. I was considering leaving the court case – I felt like it was a waste of time, but I was talked around.

“I don’t think she has been given a fair sentence; she got off very lucky, especially when she has already been on bail for two years.”