A violent domestic abuser burst his ex-partner’s eardrum in a terrifying assault on an Aberdeen street.
Ryan Massie subjected the woman to a campaign of sickening physical and emotional abuse spanning more than two years, both while they were in a relationship and after they split up.
The pair, who had been a couple for around seven years, frequently had arguments lasting hours and Massie, 29, was known to punch holes in doors and walls.
On one occasion he dragged her through a street by her hair and on another, he slapped her so hard she was left with a perforated eardrum.
Fiscal depute Lynne MacVicar told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that, during an argument in 2019, the woman “became so scared of the accused’s behaviour that she felt she needed to leave”.
Massie followed her down the stairs to the communal front door and kicked the reinforced glass panel so hard that it smashed, leaving him with a 4-inch gash on his leg.
‘No more being civil’
At some point during May or June 2021, a neighbour was in her home when she
heard a “very one-sided “disturbances coming from the couple’s address, with Massie “losing his temper”.
Later, in July or August 2021, the same neighbour overheard a similar disturbance and saw the woman hurriedly leaving the address, closely followed by Massie “shouting at her with a frustrated voice”.
Massie’s partner began to have a panic attack once outside the property and ran down the street to get away from him.
The relationship ended in October 2021 and Massie moved out.
The following month, the woman was outside having a cigarette with her Ring doorbell camera covered by her arm.
Massie, who still had access to the camera footage via the app, saw this and “thought she was trying to hide something” and messaged her saying he was coming over and she should “wait and see”.
The women interpreted this as a threat and contacted Ring to ask for Massie to be removed as a user so he could not access the footage.
Massie then sent an abusive message followed by others where he threatened to come to her house.
Injury ‘still gives her pain in her right ear’
On November 22 2021, Massie attended at the woman’s address uninvited. When she saw him enter the garden she ran to the bathroom and pretended to be in the shower.
Massie repeatedly messaged her later that night telling her she had better reply or he would be “locked up for what he was going to do”.
Two days later, he followed up with another message saying he was coming over and there be “no more being civil”.
Over the course of the following month, she received numerous calls from Massie threatening to “punch her head in” and messages saying “I’m coming over, wait and see”.
On December 30 he attended uninvited at 1.20am, but left when one of the woman’s friends phoned him and told him to leave.
On January 20 this year, Massie’s ex was walking home when he approached her and followed her back to the house.
He grabbed and “pulled her by the hair along the street towards her house” and then into the garden.
The woman tried to move towards her Ring doorbell camera in the hope it was recording, but Massie tried to rip it off the wall and she was able to escape and flee to a neighbour’s house.
The pair agreed to meet in a public street later that evening, and Massie “started screaming and shouting at her, accusing her of being with another man and asking who she was with”.
‘Capable of being rehabilitated’
Massie then tried to force his hand into her pocket to get her phone and began to struggle with her.
He wrestled the device from her to check her messages while she got to her feet and ran away.
Massie then came up behind her and “struck” her to her right ear, in what she thought was a punch but what Massie maintains was a slap.
Ms MacVicar said: “This strike caused her to have a perforated eardrum which still gives her pain in her right ear, which is exacerbated by cold weather, sneezing, coughing, and loud or high pitched noises.”
Following that incident, the woman and her mother went to Kittybrewster police station to report Massie’s behaviour.
As well as the burst eardrum, she was also found to have five or six purple bruises on her tricep and reddening to her cheekbone.
She showed officers various abusive and threatening messages from Massie, including threats to smash her windows and one in which he stated he “did not care about returning to jail again”.
On January 29 around 9.40pm, the woman was at home when Massie rang the doorbell and began throwing small stones at her window.
‘This course of offending clearly would merit a prison sentence’
Police were called but Massie ripped the doorbell camera off the wall and threw it into the garden and left before officers arrived.
Massie, a prisoner of HMP Grampian, pled guilty to engaging in a course of behaviour that was abusive at various locations in Aberdeen.
Defence agent Paul Parker-Smith said the offence was “out of character”, adding: “While he does have something of a record, there’s nothing with a domestic aggravation.”
He went on: “He accepts responsibility. The social workers certainly believe that they could do something with him.”
The solicitor added that Massie had served the equivalent of a 10-month sentence while on remand.
He said: “It seems to me he is an individual who is capable of being rehabilitated.”
Sheriff Ian Wallace said: “This course of offending clearly would merit a prison sentence, however, in the circumstances I can deal with this with a community payback order.”
He ordered Massie to be supervised for 24 months, complete the Caledonian programme and carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.
He also imposed a 10-year non-harassment order prohibiting Massie from approaching or contacting his ex.
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