A man who lit a fire outside his ex-girlfriend’s home to scare her has been handed an opportunity to prove he is a better person now.
Jordan Stewart waged a six-month campaign of terror against the woman, including torching bin bags outside her home and taking a crowbar to a cupboard inside her property.
The 24-year old also picked up a Stanley knife and repeatedly struck a door with it as he uttered derogatory remarks to her while in her home in mid-2020.
Stewart pleaded guilty to the charge of being abusive to the woman between December 2019 and July 2020 at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
Woman had to put out flames
Fiscal depute Colin Neilson told the court that on one occasion in December 2019 the woman heard Stewart “laugh sadistically” outside her home before discovering he had set fire to bin bags causing damage to the building.
He added: “With the help of a neighbour she was able to extinguish the flames.”
In July Stewart then turned up and was allowed entry to the woman’s home where he began to shout, swear and became aggressive.
He then picked up a Stanley knife from the worktop and repeatedly stabbed it into a door.
When asked to leave, Stewart, of School Road, Aberdeen, picked up a crowbar and began prying at a cupboard door at which point the woman called police, who arrested him.
Couple’s relationship was ‘toxic’
Defence solicitor Tony Burgess described the couple’s relationship as “toxic” and said that Stewart accepted that he had let his behaviour “go too far”.
He added: “This couple were bad for each other and he has moved on from that relationship.
“Mr Stewart has done really well to embed himself so that he has not reoffended.
“It follows that if he is in custody then the good work that he has done would fall away.”
Sheriff Philip Mann told Stewart there is “no doubt” his behaviour “absolutely reached the custody threshold”.
He added: “But I’m glad to see you complying and applying yourself.
“I’m reluctant to impose a community-based disposal today because it could be difficult or impossible to undo in the event that you stopped complying with it.
“Don’t let yourself down.”
Sheriff Mann deferred sentence for six months to allow a criminal justice social work report and a progress report to be carried out.
