A former chef who took a cocktail of drink and drugs then beat up his partner claims he was having hallucinations at the time.
Jamie Bruce gave the woman a swollen eye, bleeding nose and burst lip during the drunken row, during which he also punched her face as she begged him to stop choking her.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told the 34-year-old pushed her onto a sofa and held her throat for 10 seconds – stopping her from breathing.
Fiscal depute Andrew McMann told the court that the couple had been in a relationship since January last year.
He explained that the night before the attack – on February 24 – the pair had been drinking together at Bruce’s Aberdeen home before they both went to bed.
Pinned woman to sofa and squeezed neck
Around 10am the next morning, the woman went to use the bathroom and woke Bruce on her return.
“An argument ensued whereby the complainer slapped the accused and left the bedroom to go and sleep on the sofa,” Mr Procter said.
“As she was walking to the living room, the accused followed her and pushed her onto the sofa, pinned her to it, gripped her neck with his left hand and compressed it for around 10 seconds.
“The complainer could not breathe for this period but did not lose consciousness.
“She advised the accused he was hurting her and to get off, to which the accused punched her once to the left side of the face.”
Bruce, of Manor Crescent, Aberdeen, pled guilty to a domestically aggravated charge of assault to injury.
Accused was ‘struggling with the effects’ of substances
His defence solicitor, Ian Woodward-Nutt, told the court that his client had previously had a successful career as a chef before he lost his job during lockdown.
“Since then he has had issues with substance abuse,” Mr Woodward-Nutt said.
“He was heavily under the influence of drugs and alcohol and he was struggling with the effects of those substances.
“He describes having an adverse reaction and seeing things that were not present.
“However, he does not in any way seek to excuse his behaviour – which he knows was inexcusable and disgraceful.”
Sheriff Robert Vaughan sentenced Bruce to a community payback order with 12 months of supervision and ordered him to carry out 140 hours of unpaid work.
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