A controlling Aberdeen man installed CCTV cameras in his home so he could monitor his wife and even dictated what music she was allowed to listen to.
Domestic abuser Tom O’Neill also installed a tracking app on his victim’s mobile, demanded that her phone conversations be recorded and physically assaulted her.
The 30-year-old, who Inverness Sheriff Court was told may have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, subjected the woman to almost four years of abuse and torment at addresses in Aberdeen, Keith and Ellon.
But despite perpetrating “some of the worst” coercive and controlling behaviour ever heard of by the sheriff and passing the threshold for a custodial sentence, O’Neill has avoided jail.
‘He may be suffering from OCD’
He admitted a charge of engaging in a campaign of abuse which included an assault where she was punched repeatedly and had her breathing restricted for around five seconds.
The offences took place in properties in Keith, Aberdeen and Ellon between August 2015 and April 2019.
Fiscal depute Pauline Gair had told the court that over a one-year period, O’Neill sent the woman 27,500 messages from his phone.
Mrs Gair said: “He may be suffering from OCD but the defence may say more on that later”.
She added: “He wanted to know intimate details of her previous sexual relations and he would question her for hours”.
The court heard O’Neill wanted the woman’s phone conversations recorded, he installed a tracker app on her phone and on his, put in CCTV cameras at her property and dictated what music she listened to.
Mrs Gair said: “On one occasion, he grabbed her by the hair, repeatedly punched her then stopped, before saying his head was saying to do it again.
“He resumed punching her, stopped and then started again.”
‘Remorse, empathy and disgust’
Defence solicitor Robert Cruickshank said his client’s OCD was “being managed and under control and he has moved on from the relationship”.
He added: “He has expressed remorse, empathy and disgust at his behaviour and the passage of time has enabled him to rehabilitate.
“He has matured considerably since he was married at the age of 20.”
Sheriff Sara Matheson told O’Neill: “This was some of the worst coercive and controlling behaviour I have come across”.
But although she said the custodial threshold had been passed, after hearing from Mr Cruickshank, she decided against jailing O’Neill.
She ordered him to carry out 270 hours of unpaid community work, placed him under social work supervision for two years and instructed him to participate in a programme for male domestic abusers.
However, she warned him that if he does not comply, a “substantial” custodial sentence would follow.
