The wife of a north-east oil worker who is accused of abusing her for two decades broke down as she told a court how he would erupt into “bursts of violence” without warning.
Corrina Cox said she lived in constant fear after moving in with her husband David, terrified of when he would snap next.
The 43-year-old was giving evidence during the second day of her estranged husband’s trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
Cox, 63, is accused of repeatedly assaulting an ex-girlfriend and later his wife during a 24-year campaign of terror.
Mrs Cox, a first aid worker and retained fire fighter, told the court she first met her husband at the Burnett Arms hotel in Banchory in 1993.
“He whisked me off my feet there and then,” she said.
But after moving in together, she claimed he would erupt into “bursts of violence” without warning.
“He made me feel as if I was the one who made him angry and made him lash out,” she said.
Mrs Cox told the court that during their 21-year relationship, she was throttled, head butted, kicked and punched by her husband numerous times.
When asked why she never left him or called the police, Mrs Cox said she was too “frightened”.
“He made me feel that I needed him – like I would be nothing without him,” she said.
Following an “incident” last summer when police were called to their cottage, Mrs Cox said she revealed what had been allegedly happening to her.
She said she wrote her husband a letter telling him that the relationship was over.
“I said I couldn’t possible go back because of what he had put me through,” she said.
“I have felt worthless and depressed. I have felt like I can’t go on anymore.”
On the first day of Cox’s trial, the court heard from his ex-girlfriend, Rosemary Ringwood.
The accountant said Cox, of 32 Woodcock Court, Stonehaven, tried to strangle her in 1990, “lashing out” numerous times before she did a “runner” back home to England.
Yesterday, the court heard from Mrs Ringwood’s former colleagues, who described seeing her after the alleged attacks.
Eileen O’Farrell said: “She was deeply distressed. She was frightened.”
The trial, before Sheriff Graeme Napier, continues today.