A boyfriend has been ordered to stay away from his partner after he struck her across the knee with a baseball bat in a jealous rage.
Francis McPhee, 33, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted assaulting his partner when he became convinced she was cheating on him.
On another occasion, the court heard McPhee got drunk and punched the woman in the right eye.
She later had to lie to friends, claiming she had “fallen and hit her head against a radiator”.
McPhee was jailed by Sheriff Morag McLaughlin, who described him as posing a “serious risk to the public”.
Fiscal depute Lynne MacVicar told the court that in September last year McPhee and his partner had been arguing at an address in Aberdeen’s Urquhart Road when he accused her of cheating on him.
She said: “The accused followed her and whilst within the kitchen struck her once to the right eye.
“In the days that followed, bruising developed around her eye.
“A few days later she was asked by a friend what had happened to her eye – at that stage, she lied and said she had fallen and hit her head against a radiator.”
On October 6 2021 the woman and McPhee were at his home and he was drinking.
She received a telephone call from a male friend and McPhee flew into a rage and accused her of cheating on him.
He picked up a baseball bat and continued shouting at her before striking her across the knee – leaving her with a bruise.
Police were called the following day when McPhee pushed her to the floor and repeatedly struck her head.
When officers arrived they recovered the baseball bat and a Stanley knife.
McPhee then verbally abused the officers, calling them “f****ts and p***s”.
He pleaded guilty to one charge of engaging in a course of behaviour that was abusive to his partner and three charges of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner.
He also admitted one charge of assault and another of breaching his bail condition not to approach his partner.
‘They are serious offences’
Defence agent Stuart Murray told the court that his client had fallen into “using drink and drugs”.
“He had very little recollection of these matters but they are serious offences,” he said.
“It’s pretty clear that the complainer is entirely undeserving of what happened to her but it’s obvious that she and Mc McPhee live a fairly chaotic lifestyle.”
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin told McPhee: “I’m not prepared to deal with this by way of a community disposal.
“You have a number of previous convictions, a number of which are analogous.
“Against the background of your record, I believe you pose a serious risk to the public.”
Sheriff McLaughlin sentenced McPhee, whose address was given as HMP Grampian, to 34 months in prison, backdated to October 11 last year.
She also put a non-harassment order in place, meaning McPhee is not allowed to approach his partner for five years.
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