A 34 year old Inverness man struck his partner with a rolled-up magazine and burst her eardrum, Inverness Sheriff Court heard yesterday.
Matthew Trinder of Leyton Drive, admitted assaulting his then partner, Emma Watson on November 21, 2013 to her severe injury in a house in Lochdhu Gate, Nairn.
Sentence was deferred until May 5 for a background report and he had his bail continued.
Defence solicitor Willie Young reserved his comments until then.
Fiscal depute Roderick Urquhart told Sheriff Margaret Neilson that Trinder first met Emma Watson in 2003 when she was 16 and he was 21.
He said: “I understand that Emma Watson is the victim in the various previous convictions marked with the domestic aggravator. They are now separated.
“During 2013 they were living in Nairn and on November 21 they had been in a friend’s house in Nairn. While they had been sitting at a table with the friend and possibly the friend’s ex-partner, an argument developed between Emma Watson and Trinder.
“He pannel stood up, picked up a magazine from the table, rolled it up and struck her with force across her left ear.
“The friend, who both saw and heard the blow, protested but Trinder simply told her to “shut up.” Ms Watson said that the blow knocked her head sideways and she immediately experienced a severe pain and a ringing in her ear which continued for some time.
“The friend gave Emma Watson a cold cloth to put on her ear and shortly afterwards Ms Watson and Trinder left.”
Mr Urquhart went on: “She still felt sick the following afternoon when Ms Watson attended at the Nairn Town and County Hospital. There she says she explained what had happened but suggested that it was her daughter who had struck her.
“The medical records note that she was in an abusive relationship and the identity of the person who struck her is not recorded. On examination it was found that she had suffered a traumatic perforation of the eardrum due to pressure. Blood was visible at the point of perforation.
“She was advised to avoid getting the ear wet and was told that the eardrum should heal in about six weeks.”
Mr Urquhart added that he had no information to contradict that diagnosis.
