An abusive boyfriend broke into his partner’s Aberdeen flat and shouted at her after he was told she’d cheated on him.
Robert Snelling ripped the security chain from the door and barged into the property to confront his partner with suspicions that she had been unfaithful.
The 26-year-old labourer hurled abuse at the mum in front of her crying one-year-old baby boy, branding her a “s***”.
Snelling angrily paced the Oldcroft Court flat as he told off his girlfriend for being in contact with other men, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
During the incident at 10pm on September 12 last year, Snelling even knocked her mobile phone from her hand to the floor when she tried to call 999 for help.
He ‘berated her and called her a s***’
Fiscal depute Lydia Ross said: “The complainer was in the living room when she heard the door partly open and being held on a chain.
“She could hear the accused shouting at her and thereafter she heard the door fully open after a couple of loud bangs.
“The accused then entered the living room and began to berate her and call her a s*** and causing her one-year-old son to cry loudly.
“The complainer observed that the security chain was broken from the door.”
She then tried to call 999 for help but Snelling knocked the woman’s mobile phone from her hand to the floor.
“After she retrieved her phone and made the call, he continued to follow her around the room, repeatedly calling her a ‘s***’ and shouting, ‘We are having this conversation’,” the fiscal added.
‘He was upset because of infidelity’
Less than two weeks later, on September 21 2021, Snelling bombarded the woman with five late-night phone calls.
And weeks later, on October 14, he sent her unwanted Snapchat messages, calling her out for screenshotting his chats and asking, “Can we talk?”
From the dock, Snelling admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner and preventing his girlfriend from calling the emergency services.
His defence solicitor Caitlin Pirie said Snellings had heard his partner had been unfaithful and turned up at her flat to collect his belongings and end the relationship.
“He was upset and that was because of her infidelity,” she said. “He accepts his emotions were heightened. He had caused damage to the door on entering”.
She added that there was “no excuse” for him speaking to the woman in the manner he did but that “he was upset and that was because of the infidelity”.
Man showed ‘remorse and empathy’
Sheriff William Summers told Snelling’s lawyer that there is “a difference between causing damage upon entry and barging your way into someone’s home by overcoming security”.
The sheriff told her client that the charges were “serious” as he prepared to sentence Snelling.
“I am particularly troubled by the charge that involved you overcoming security and forcing your way in,” Sheriff Summers said.
“The second complaint is also troubling because it involved you ignoring court conditions repeatedly.
“However, the (social work) report is positive. You have accepted responsibility and shown remorse and empathy.”
The sheriff considered the accused’s offences too serious for a fine.
Instead, Sheriff Summers handed Snelling, of Ashgrove Gardens South in Aberdeen, a 12-month supervision order.
He was also told to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work and given a three-year non-harassment order, banning him from contact with the victim for that period of time.
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