A relentless domestic abuser who was purposely trying to provoke a mental breakdown in his female victim has been jailed.
Police arrested Tyler Whyte following a small gathering at a flat in Aberdeen when the friends of the young woman became concerned by the 22-year-old’s erratic and violent behaviour.
At one point during the evening, Whyte was heard to exclaim that his intent was to cause the woman “to have a mental breakdown”.
Whyte then grabbed, pushed and pulled the young woman’s hair before placing a blanket tightly over her head.
He then pulled out a potato peeler from a kitchen drawer and brandished it at the woman as he made various threats.
When one friend tried to intervene, Whyte violently lashed out, punching the woman repeatedly to the face.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that when police arrived at the scene Whyte that if they took him back to the block of flats he would “commit murder”.
‘I will commit murder’
Fiscal depute Emma Petersen told the court that at around 2am on February 4 2021, Whyte and a group of friends were gathered at a flat within The Foyer on Crown Street.
A woman arrived at the flat later but soon noticed Whyte acting aggressively towards his victim by pulling her, pushing her and clearly causing her discomfort.
“The accused then made comments that his intent was to cause the complainer to have a mental breakdown,” the fiscal depute said.
When a male within the group asked the woman if she was okay, Whyte then accused her of being unfaithful and pulled her to the ground by her hair before spitting on her.
He then placed a blanket over her head, which caused her breathing to become restricted.
When he later grabbed the same woman by the hair, the woman who had arrived late intervened by pushing Whyte away from her friend.
Whyte took hold of the back of this woman’s head and repeatedly punched her in the face.
The police were called, and they eventually traced Whyte within another property.
Broke order within hours
Upon being arrested, he verbally abused police officers using a number of homophobic, sexual and racist slurs.
He also stated that “if I go back to The Foyer I will commit murder”.
Whyte was later released from police custody on an undertaking and ordered to stay away from The Foyer and the female he had assaulted throughout the previous evening.
As officers went to obtain witness statements from all the women who were present at the party, Whyte then called one of them and demanded to speak to the female victim.
He was then rearrested, during which Whyte pretended to spit at officers before kicking one of them on the leg.
In the dock, Whyte pleaded guilty to two charges of assault, two charges of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner, one count of resisting arrest and a further charge of breaching a bail condition.
Original order revoked
Defence solicitor Laura Gracie told the court that her client had “struggled with his behaviour” at the time of the offending due to living by himself as a 19-year-old.
“He was not coping well and essentially turned to alcohol and drugs,” the solicitor said, adding: “As I understand it, all those offences happened on one day.”
“Mr Whyte’s offences are serious, but they are limited and during a period where he was trying to look after himself but was unable to do that.”
Ms Gracie described the community payback order given to Whyte as a “gift” given to him “so he could be a of good behaviour”.
However, the solicitor conceded that her client had failed to carry out the hours of unpaid work imposed an alternative to a prison sentence.
Sheriff William Summers told Whyte that he had been “very fortunate” to receive a community payback order when sentence was first imposed, adding that his involvement since that date has been “minimal at best”.
“It’s quite clear that there is no alternative but for me to revoke the order and impose a sentence of imprisonment,” he said.
Sheriff Summers sentenced Whyte, whose address was given as HMP Polmont, to 16 months in prison.
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