A jealous ex hit a woman over the head with a baseball bat then trashed her flat after she sent him photos of another man’s legs in her bed.
Aaron Jack attacked his former girlfriend after the pair split up and she urged him to “move on like she had” before sending him a photo of another man’s legs.
The 40-year-old “saw red” after their three-year relationship came to an end in September 2019 and he believed she was seeing someone else.
He sent the woman multiple abusive text messages calling her a “coke heed” before flying into a rage when she sent him one back containing a photo of another man’s legs within her bed.
Fiscal depute Brain Young told the court how Jack armed himself with a wooden baseball bat-type weapon and headed for her home in Aberdeen city centre, just a few hours after sending those messages, at around 3.10pm that day.
When she refused to let him inside he started “violently kicking” the door to her home determined to get in.
“She formed the view that the door was being kicked with such force he was going to kick it down,” Mr Young told the court. “She opened the door in the hope that she would be able to calm him down however he immediately struck her to the head with the piece of wood causing her to fall to the floor.”
‘She was in fear for her life’
After Jack searched her house to see if anyone else was home he then trashed her living room furniture before grabbing the woman by the throat, trying to choke her and throwing her onto the sofa.
“The woman later told police that she was in fear for her life and thought he was going to kill her,” the fiscal added.
Jack then took his wooden weapon and fled as neighbours called an ambulance to treat the woman’s head wound.
She was moved to a safe address by police while Jack returned later that evening to throw an empty bottle of gin at her wall.
Police traced him the next day when he was arrested, cautioned and charged.
Pair rekindled romance
Despite the fallout the pair resumed contact and moved in together in January 2020, meaning Jack was breaching his bail conditions to keep away from her.
The rekindled relationship proved short-lived, though, when Jack once again resumed his abusive behaviour.
“On February 23, she had been on a night out and had not returned to the address,” Mr Young said. “The accused sent her a number of messages asking where she was and accusing her of cheating on him.”
The next morning he texted her telling her to come and get her stuff and move out, adding “any hassle at all and you’ll be sorry you came here”.
He then dumped all her belongings on the floor and told her she had half an hour to pack her things and get out.
She did so and later contacted police.
‘He bitterly regrets his actions’
Defence agent Charlie Benzies said the pair were in an “extremely toxic” relationship and Jack had lost control after the “red mist enveloped him”.
He added: “When he received the photo of the other man’s legs in his partner’s bed the red mist didn’t so much as come down, but totally enveloped him.
“There was a fair amount of provocation here. He really was not thinking clearly at the time of this offence. Now, in the cold light of day, he bitterly regrets his actions.
“Despite this incident what appears to have happened is the couple resumed their relationship and, given the nature of that relationship, it was only a matter of time before trouble occurred.”
He added his client “fully appreciates the seriousness” of the situation.
Jack admitted charges of carrying an offensive weapon, carrying out a course of behaviour which was abusive of his ex-partner, and of breaching his bail conditions by making contact with her.
‘No doubts’ about sending him to jail
Sheriff Graham Buchanan told him: “This is a very serious matter indeed involving a significant course of abusive behaviour towards the woman.
“That included some outrageous behaviour when you went to her home, tried to force open the door of the place where she lives then assaulted her in her own home.
“It was a course of behaviour which was very unpleasant indeed. I am in no doubt that the only appropriate sentence here is one of imprisonment.”
He handed Jack, of Countesswells Park Avenue, Aberdeen, an 18-month sentence and a five-year non-harassment order banning him from contacting his ex.
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