Police walked in on a Peterhead man as he was throttling his ex-girlfriend on the ground.
David Dickson, 32, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted lunging at the woman, shoving her onto the floor in a bedroom at the property before climbing on top of her and placing his hands around her neck.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told the woman’s friends heard her desperate pleas for help and tried to barge into the room.
Police then arrived and witnessed Dickson knelt on top of the woman with his hands around her throat.
Fiscal depute Jennifer Pritchard told the court that at around noon on October 21 last year, the woman was socialising with friends at Dickson’s father’s home on Churchill Drive, Peterhead.
Dickson left the property but returned drunk hours later and began accusing the woman of being unfaithful while they were together.
As the woman walked into a bedroom to avoid a confrontation, Dickson attempted to follow but was stopped by one of her friends, who he bit on the arm.
Dickson then stormed into the bedroom and shoved the woman to the floor, pinned her with his legs and placed his hands around her throat as she shouted for help.
A friend of the victim attempted to come to her aid and did gain entry to the room, where she saw Dickson standing over the woman as she appeared to be “fitting” or having “some kind of seizure”.
“At this point, the complainer managed to briefly stand up before being pushed back onto the bed,” Ms Pritchard said.
“The accused then climbed on top of her before grabbing her neck with his hand and attempting to choke her, applying moderate pressure which caused her to struggle for breath.”
Police found accused on top of woman
Meanwhile, two police officers arrived at the property and found Dickson still on top of the woman, choking her. He only stopped when they pulled him off her.
The woman, who police said was dazed and in a state of confusion, was left with bruising to her neck and under her right eye.
Dickson pleaded guilty to two charges of assault and one charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
His defence agent, Stephanie Milligan, called for background reports to be carried out on her client.
Sheriff Ian Wallace deferred sentence on Dickson, whose address was given as HMP Grampian, and remanded him in custody in order for a criminal justice social work report and restriction of liberty order assessment to be carried out.
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