A thug has been jailed over a “catalogue of violence and abuse” against two former partners stretching back almost a decade.
Jamie Stewart subject two women to horrific domestic abuse at addresses in Aberdeen, smashing a plate over one partner’s head and elbowing her in the head while she was pregnant.
The 30-year-old also headbutted, choked and even bit a second partner, as well as threatening to kill her father and her dogs.
Fiscal depute Lucy Simpson told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that in December 2012 Stewart’s then-partner broke up with him after he grabbed her forcefully by the arms, took her phone and smashed it against a wall.
However, Stewart would not accept the relationship was over and repeatedly phoned her seeking to get back together.
He then turned up at the woman’s door unexpectedly, shouting and demanding to know why she wouldn’t speak to him.
When he was asked to leave he responded by headbutting the woman, who was left with “blood streaming down her face”.
‘You’re going to get me the jail’
As the woman fell onto her bed and started to cry, Stewart simply stared at her before later going on to wipe up some of the blood and tell her to “clean herself up”.
The woman, who was left with a scar from the assault, later tried to visit her friend but upon leaving found Stewart in the stairwell.
He tried to hug her and apologise, adding: “You’re going to phone the police. You’re going to get me the jail.”
The couple did eventually resume their relationship, which was described as “on-off”.
But it wasn’t long before Stewart returned to his abusive ways, accusing the woman of cheating on him and dragging her around the flat, leaving her with a scar on her knee.
Woman felt she ‘couldn’t get away from the accused’
In 2015, Stewart started an argument when the woman came home from a night out with friends, and smashed a dinner plate over her head.
The terrified woman ran and locked herself in the bathroom, but Stewart kicked the door until it broke.
On another occasion he punched the woman to the body and face, giving her a black eye. She called in sick to her work the next day to hide her injury.
In 2016, while the woman was around four months pregnant, Stewart elbowed her to the temple as she was giving him a lift, causing it to swell up “like an egg”.
That relation finally ended permanently in January 2017.
The second complainer first met Stewart in December 2019 and the pair had a “casual relationship”.
But by April 2020 she had decided she wanted this to end, however felt she “couldn’t get away from the accused”.
Throughout their relationship, Stewart “constantly” phoned the woman, sometimes from different numbers, and frequently made threats, often referencing her dad and brother.
He threatened to “put her dad’s face into bits”.
Ms Simpson told the court: “The complainer believed that the accused made these threats to try to provoke a reaction from her, knowing she was very close to her father.”
He repeatedly turned up at her home uninvited, sometimes late at night, banging on the door for long periods.
On one occasion he attended at 6am, calling her name through the letterbox and then walking to the back garden and shouting threats up at her window while she was inside alone and scared.
Another time, when refused entry, Stewart climbed up to the woman’s first-floor balcony and entered the property from there.
Stewart threatened to ‘put her unconscious and break her jaw’
In May 2020 Stewart phoned the woman while she was out walking her dogs, informing her he was at her flat and demanding to know where she was.
The woman tried to arrange to go to a friend’s house in order to avoid him, but was unsuccessful and instead stayed out with the dogs for a couple of hours, far longer than initially intended.
However, when she did go home Stewart was still there and threatened to “kill her dad and her dogs”.
He also threw her purse and keys at her, hitting her in the face.
When they spotted police nearby, Stewart warned the woman “not to say a f****** thing”.
On another occasion in June 2020, Stewart followed her as she walked her dogs and threatened to “put her unconscious and break her jaw”.
Neighbours who tried to intervene also ended up on the receiving end of Stewart’s aggression, one woman being pulled to the ground by her hair and left with a bruised chin and cut head.
Another neighbour, a 60-year-old female social worker who had just recently been discharged from hospital, was grabbed by the hair and punched in the face.
When she fell to the ground Stewart kicked her to the head around five times before taking her flip-flop and hitting her in the face with it.
That neighbour was left with a bloody nose, a bald patch where her hair was pulled out, a swollen jaw and two loose teeth.
When Stewart was arrested over that incident he spat towards a female police officer.
Stewart’s domestic abuse continued on August 23 2020, when he, unprovoked, headbutted his partner.
When she started to cry he apologised, said he “missed” her and grabbed her by the throat, pushing her up against a cupboard.
Accused ‘quite rightly ashamed’
The woman felt like she couldn’t breathe.
Stewart then “bit down hard for several seconds” on her wrist, leaving “distinctive teeth marks”.
When speaking to the police in September 2020, the woman said she would keep her curtains closed during the day so Stewart wouldn’t know she was home, and that she continued to be scared when she saw anyone who dressed similar to Stewart.
Stewart, a prisoner of HMP Grampian, admitted a charge of assault to injury and permanent disfigurement relating to the first woman, and a charge engaging in a course of conduct that was abusive regarding the second woman.
He also admitted two charges of assault to injury, one of assault, and one of failing to comply with bail conditions.
Defence agent Neil McRobert said his client was “quite rightly ashamed” of his conduct.
He added: “Alcohol abuse has been a significant problem for him. The vast majority of the offending was committed while he was under the influence of alcohol.”
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin described the offences as a “catalogue of violence and abuse”, adding Stewart posed a “significant risk” to partners in particular but also to the public.
She jailed him for 45 months and imposed a 12-month supervised release order.
Non-harassment orders were also imposed in respect of both ex-partners, banning Stewart from contacting them for five years.
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