A sniggering serial domestic abuser has been jailed after he choked his wife while she cradled their infant son in her arms.
Tomas Pocta laughed and mocked his partner – who thought she was going to die – as he carried out the disturbing drunken attack at an address in Aberdeen.
Jailing him, Sheriff Graham Buchanan said the 41-year-old posed a “risk of causing serious harm” to any future partner.
Fiscal depute Dylan Middleton told Aberdeen Sheriff Court Pocta had been out drinking with friends during the evening of Thursday January 13 this year.
Due to previous issues around his drinking, his wife had requested he be home by 10pm but he returned at 11.20pm “heavily intoxicated and making a lot of noise”.
An argument broke out when his wife asked him to be quiet as their son was sleeping.
During this, she tried to record his behaviour on her phone and a struggle for the mobile ensued.
Pocta then grabbed the woman by the neck and “manoeuvred her onto the floor” and shouted in her face.
Woman escaped and fled to neighbour with son
Neighbours overheard Pocta shouting and his partner in distress, shouting at him to get off her.
Pocta continued to hold the woman’s neck, pinning her to the floor and shouting at her.
When the woman heard their 15-month-old son crying, she managed to escape and rushed to his room to comfort him, holding him against her chest.
Pocta then followed her into the room and sat next to her on the bed.
Mr Middleton said: “Without warning, the accused grabbed the complainer to the neck and pulled her down onto the bed.
“This lasted for a few seconds and did not restrict her breathing.
“The complainer was still holding their infant son, who was unharmed.”
‘He said he was going to kill her’
Pocta was asked to leave and did, briefly, before returning and beginning to taunt his wife.
Mr Middleton said: “The accused began to goad the complainer, mimicking her voice and saying that she was going to cry.
“He then said that he was going to kill her.
“He moved round the bed so that he was behind her, and placed both his hands around her neck.
“He pulled her back and pinned her down on the bed, whilst she was still holding their son.”
Pocta then began to apply pressure to her neck, leaving her “very distressed and afraid”.
She attempted to sit up, but Pocta prevented her by pushing her back onto the bed.
Mr Middleton continued: “The complainer began to cry which prompted the accused, whilst sniggering, to say something similar to ‘you’re crying now’.
“He then tightened his grip on the complainer’s neck, using a lot of effort, to restrict her breathing.
“The complainer was unable to breathe for approximately five seconds and she was unable to swallow.
“The complainer, in her victim impact statement, described having an
overwhelming sense that she was going to die.
“Her distress was compounded by the fact that her infant son was still in her arms during this assault.”
‘An air of nonchalance’
When Pocta eventually loosened his grip, the woman screamed as loud as she could, only for her husband to cover her mouth with his hand.
She finally managed to push her attacker away with her foot and ran out of her home in her socks, without a jacket, along with her son to seek refuge at a neighbour’s.
She was described as “hysterical” and had visible red marks on both sides of her neck which had started to bruise.
The matter was later reported to police after a doctor raised concerns about the marks.
Another doctor later assessed the attack as being “life-endangering”.
The court heard: “The application of pressure to the neck, even briefly, may cause sudden death as a result of reflex cardiac arrest.”
When later interviewed, Pocta stated he was drunk and could not remember committing the offence.
Pocta, of Harris Drive, Aberdeen, pled guilty to a domestically aggravated charge of assault to injury and danger of life.
Pocta poses ‘risk of causing serious harm’ to future partners
The court heard Pocta also had a previous conviction relating to abuse of the same woman, also including grabbing her by the throat and threatening to kill her.
Since the assault to injury and danger of life, Pocta has also been convicted for yet another attack on the woman, who has since ended the relationship and moved to England.
Defence agent Andrew Ormiston addressed a suggestion in a court-ordered social work report that Pocta had “an air of nonchalance” about the offence.
The lawyer said: “That’s not correct. He treated it seriously and is utterly ashamed of his conduct, which he recognises is entirely his fault.”
Sheriff Graham Buchanan told Pocta: “It’s plain from the serious nature of your conduct that the only appropriate sentence is one of imprisonment.
“You do indeed pose a risk of causing serious harm, particularly to any future individual with whom you may form an intimate relationship.”
The sheriff jailed Pocta for 27 months, with a 12-month supervised release order and also imposed a six-year non-harassment order.
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