An Aberdeen woman has spoken of her relief after a court ordered her ex-partner to stay away from her following “appalling” domestic abuse.
Lee McKay, who owns a hair salon in the city, subjected his wife Melissa McKay to over a year of vile, controlling abuse.
Following a trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, McKay, 33, was found guilty of a charge under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act.
McKay, who had denied the offence, has now been handed a three-year non-harassment order as part of his sentence, requiring him not to approach or contact his ex.
Speaking after the court case concluded, Melissa, 36, who is separated but yet to divorce McKay, told the Press and Journal she was “really happy” he was found guilty.
She added she was “relieved” to have survived his attempt at choking her when the abuse culminated in a violent assault in September 2020.
‘Relieved’ to survive violent attack
Melissa continued: “I am delighted by what the sheriff ruled. It has been horrendous domestic abuse and coercive control.
“I am relieved I survived the assault and that judges are here to look after women, men and children.
“Men and women need to know it’s safe to talk and safe to fight this.”
During the sentencing hearing, defence agent Gregor Kelly said the assault involved “shameful physicality” on McKay’s part but that there had been a “pattern of abuse by both partners towards each other”.
“It’s a situation where the marriage should have been terminated at an earlier juncture,” he told Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
“They went through lockdown together and raising children together. He says he let the toxicity of the relationship go on for too long.
“The background reports and information from Police Scotland indicated a pattern of abuse from both partners towards each other.
“Moving on, both parties will be damaged by what has gone on during the marriage.”
Accused stopped wife contacting her parents
Mr Kelly added that his client, who co-owns Ellee’s hair salon on Holburn Street, was “deeply concerned” by the prospect of a custodial sentence and hoped he would instead be given a chance to carry out a domestic abuse rehabilitation programme.
He added: “He knows his conduct fell far short of what is required as a good parent in front of his children.”
McKay was found guilty of abusive behaviour towards his wife in which he shouted and swore at her, made threatening and derogatory remarks, seized her by the neck and compressed it and pushed her to the ground in Aberdeen.
His controlling behaviour included threatening to keep her kids from her, monitoring her whereabouts, stopping her from contacting her parents and accusing her of infidelity.
McKay still maintains he did not restrict his wife’s airways, but his defence agent said he accepts there was “physical conduct”.
He ‘chose his words carefully’
Sheriff William Summers, who presided over the trial, said McKay had “chosen his word carefully” not when giving his evidence, but also during his later interview with social workers.
He told him: “I found you guilty after the trial of an appalling appalling course of domestic abuse. it was a course of conduct carried out remorselessly against your wife over a number of months.
“It culminated in a violent assault in which you seized and compressed your wife’s neck.
“It remains a matter of concern for me that you still don’t accept responsibility for all that you did. It’s so serious that I have had to give anxious consideration as to whether the only means of disposal is a custodial sentence.”
Handed direct alternative to jail
McKay, of Ashwood Circle, was ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work, be under the supervision of social workers for two years, and carry out the Caledonian programme.
A three-year non-harassment order was also put in place to stop McKay contacting his ex.
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