A domestic abuser who told his partner the only way to escape him was to jump from an upstairs window has been jailed for 42 months.
A sheriff said Radoslaw Malek’s abuse must have been a “terrifying experience” for the woman before imposing the backdated prison sentence.
The court had previously heard how Malek tracked his partner’s mobile phone and checked her online banking as part of a course of coercive and controlling abusive behaviour.
He also assaulted the woman, slamming her head off a wall, choking her and kicking her on the soles of her feet.
Malek, 41, appeared via videolink from custody for sentencing having previously admitted engaging in a course of behaviour that was abusive of his then partner as well as two charges of assault against the woman.
Told victim she ‘had the intelligence of a donkey’
On that occasion fiscal depute Robert Weir told the court that Malek and his victim had been together for around two years but “the accused began exhibiting coercive and controlling behaviour toward her”.
Malek would track the woman’s whereabouts through her mobile phone, questioning why she was in particular locations or out for longer than he would expect her to be.
“The accused deleted the witness’ social media apps from her mobile phone and forbade her contact with her ex-partner and father of her children,” Mr Weir said, adding that Malek would also phone and message the woman repeatedly throughout each day and would “become irate” if she did not answer or respond.
He told the woman “she had the intelligence of a donkey and was worthless” adding that “he was far superior to her” and calling her “horrible, ugly and smelly” as well as saying he hated her.
‘You won’t find anyone like me’
“You won’t find anyone like me,” Malek warned his victim and threatened to kill himself if she left him.
On August 7 2021, at an address in Forres, he became physically violent toward the woman “approaching her in an intimidating manner whereby he stood in front of her using his chest to push her backwards”.
The court heard that the violence “escalated” from there.
On July 1 of 2022, Malek challenged the woman because she had “liked” a picture of a friend’s boyfriend on Facebook.
After throwing a basketball at her back he followed her into a bedroom and called her “disrespectful” and “a liar”, accusing her of being in love with the other man.
He then put one hand over the woman’s mouth and the other around her throat, squeezing it and throwing her onto a bed. She did not lose consciousness but was left “struggling to breathe” the court heard.
“She felt the accused was going to kill her,” Mr Weir said.
The attack was interrupted by another member of the household and police were called, finding the woman in the garden “in a state of distress” with “reddening on her neck”.
‘It wasn’t assault’
Malek was traced within the property and arrested but told police: “I pushed her on the bed, it wasn’t assault.”
Then on November 11 of 2022, the pair met up and went back to Malek’s home in Woodgrove Gardens, Inverness,
The following morning, as the woman prepared to leave, Malek became agitated and accused her of lying to him, stating that he had looked at her messages while she was sleeping.
When the woman tried to exit the room he closed the door and grabbed her bag from her, throwing it across the room, before slamming her head off a wall twice and then pushing her so that she fell and struck her head a third time.
Mr Weir said: “He pushed her into the bed again with her upper body on the bed, and her feet still touching the floor, then stood on top of her.”
The woman tried repeatedly to get up but was prevented on multiple occasions by Malek.
“As she was shouting at him to please let her go. He threatened that the only way she could get out was by jumping out the upstairs window,” the fiscal depute told Sheriff Ian Cruickshank.
The woman ended up on her hands and knees and Malek began to kick her legs and the soles of her feet.
When she tried to reach her mobile phone he took the SIM card out and threw it across the room before delivering a kick so hard she thought something had been broken.
Attacker laughed as victim fled
As the attack ended the woman ran barefoot from the house despite the fact that she “found it hard to walk” with Malek “laughing hysterically” at her as she went.
The Crown acknowledged that Malek has a diagnosis of schizophrenia with “a history of violent behaviour stemming from his mental health condition” but told the court that a psychiatric report had deemed him “fit to appear” at court.
Solicitor Marc Dickson, for Malek, told the court that his client and the complainer’s relationship had been marked by difficulties with drugs and alcohol.
He said Malek “accepts responsibility” for his actions and added that, while one of the charges was an assault “to danger of life” that danger was a “theoretical” one.
He said his client had since ended the relationship, despite repeated visits from the complainer in prison – adding that he didn’t propose to have any continued contact with the woman.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank told Malek: “For a relatively lengthy period of time you coerced and controlled and generally abused your partner, this abuse included physical assaults.”
He detailed the charges to which Malek had pled guilty and told him “That final incident must have been a terrifying experience for your partner.”
He jailed Malek for 42 months backdated to 16 November 2022 and imposed a non-harassment order preventing him from approaching or contacting the woman for six years.
