A woman who woke on Christmas Day to find her husband trying to strangle her was rushed to hospital where he told medics she’d “fallen down the stairs”.
Gediminas Tamulis, 40, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he admitted viciously assaulting his wife to the extent she had to be intubated when her lungs collapsed.
It was stated that the woman – who suffered permanent and lasting damage from the attack – crawled off the bed when she couldn’t breathe under her husband’s vice grip.
She then fell to the floor and he landed on top of her causing even greater injury, the court heard.
The woman later discovered that Tamulis had installed a hidden tracking app on her phone to watch her movements.
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin told Tamulis he should consider himself fortunate the injuries to his wife weren’t “catastrophic”.
Woman crawled for an hour whole unable to breathe
Fiscal depute Rebecca Thompson told the court that at an address in Aberdeen on Christmas Day 2016 the woman was awoken by Tamulis as he placed his hands around her neck and began to squeeze.
The woman “felt like she could not breathe or speak” and moved her body across the bed to free herself from her husband’s grasp.
This caused her to fall off the bed, with Tamulis falling on top of her.
She tried to speak but couldn’t and tried to crawl out of the room as she could not call for help.
It took her around an hour to crawl from the bedroom into the corridor of her flat due to the amount of pain she was in.
Eventually, Tamulis came out of the bedroom and asked her “what she was doing and where she was going”.
The woman tried to speak but was unable to and Tamulis finally called an ambulance, which took her to the hospital.
At the hospital, the woman was still unable to speak and Tamulis told the doctors that she had fallen down the stairs.
She was found to have sustained two collapsed lungs, a pneumothorax and nerve and heart damage.
In hospital, she had to have a tube inserted into her throat for her to be able to breathe.
The woman has been unable to work since this incident.
Accused had installed tracker
During another incident in February 2022, Tamulis became annoyed to discover that the woman was going to Dundee to meet a friend and he once again placed his hands around her neck.
However, on this occasion, the woman screamed out for her son to call the police and Tamulis let go of her.
He then walked into the kitchen where he began smashing plates and cups.
Later that same month, the woman’s son discovered that Tamulis had installed a hidden tracking app on her phone so he could follow the woman’s whereabouts.
In the dock, Tamulis pleaded guilty to one count of assault and another of engaging in a course of behaviour that was abusive to his partner.
He also admitted two further charges of breaching a court order not to approach his wife.
Defence solicitor David Moggach told the court that his client is “fully accepting of his actions” and “describes himself as a bad husband”.
“He puts the basis for that as his use of alcohol and believes it allowed him to behave in a totally irresponsible way to his wife,” the solicitor said.
“Thankfully, he has had time to consider what took place, the type of person he was and what took him there – he has abstained from alcohol since.
“These are clearly serious offences that he has pled guilty to and the court will have custody at the forefront of its mind.
“But Mr Tamulis is remorseful and wants to turn his life around.”
Mr Moggach also informed the court that Tamulis’ wife had chosen to take him back and give the relationship another chance.
Prison ‘on a knife edge’
Sheriff McLaughlin told Tamulis that he had committed “such serious offences” that the court had “every right” to impose a prison sentence.
“Seizing someone by the throat in this way is extremely serious and you are just lucky it’s not more serious, if not catastrophic.
“Your wife has been extraordinarily generous in letting you return to the family home.
“My first instinct here was a custodial sentence – it’s on a knife edge – but this programme work is something you need to do to protect the public and your own family from your offending behaviour.”
As an alternative to a prison sentence, Sheriff McLaughlin made Tamulis, Blackford Avenue, Rothienorman, subject to a community payback order with supervision for three years and ordered him to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work.
She also ordered Tamulis to take part in a two-year domestic abuse programme.
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