A terrified pregnant woman made a desperate call to her mother and pleaded “help me, mum, help me” before her violent partner began to wrap a cord around her neck.
Sean Hanratty was highly emotional in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court as his drug and alcohol-fuelled offences against his partner were read out in graphic detail.
They included numerous violent assaults against the woman, including punching her in the face while his children were present.
It culminated in the 29-year-old wrapping a cord around his partner’s neck as told her: “I’m going to strangle the life out of you.”
His solicitor, Tony Burgess, told the court that Hanratty’s life was “in total disarray” at the time of these offences.
But Sheriff Ian Wallace pointed to Hanratty’s history of domestic violence as he jailed him for more than two years.
Accused neighbour of being sex offender
Fiscal depute Kirsty Martin told the court how in the early morning of July 8 last year, a heavily drunk Hanratty burst into the living room of an address on Provost Rust Drive where people were present and shouted: “Where is that paedophile?”
He then ran out of the flat and began banging on the door of a neighbour while shouting “rat!” and “paedophiles!”
His partner then managed to get Hanratty back into the flat – but only for him to then turn his attention to her.
As they re-entered the flat, Hanratty shouted for the children to leave with him.
When his partner tried to stop this, Hanratty became immediately aggressive and began shouting and swearing.
It resulted in the woman barricading herself in the living room with the children.
Pulled clump of hair for woman’s head
Ms Martin told the court that Hanratty’s partner placed her back against the wall with her feet on the sofa, which was in front of the door, and braced herself for impact.
Hanratty then repeatedly slammed into and kicked the door until he forced his arm through and punched the woman to the head, causing a small cut to appear.
He then grabbed her hair, causing a clump to be pulled out of her head.
Neighbours called the police, who arrived and arrested Hanratty. He became immediately aggressive and called the officers “paedophiles” and used a homophobic slur.
Before Hanratty was taken into custody, one of his children stated that they had seen “daddy hitting mummy” and that he had “hurt her”.
During a separate incident on December 28 last year, Hanratty’s partner began to receive phone calls from him.
She refused to engage so he started messaging her threatening messages on Facebook Messenger.
About 10 minutes later, she was in the bathroom when she heard a loud bang from at the front door and Hanratty entered the bathroom heavily intoxicated and demanding her phone.
He told her: “I’m away to smash up your house if you don’t give me your phone.”
Hanratty then started to throw objects around the house, smashing children’s toys and smashing a plate against the wall.
The woman – who was pregnant – demanded that he leave so Hanratty slapped her with an open palm to the forehead.
‘I’m going to strangle the lift out of you’
As the woman sat on her bedroom floor with her head in her hands Hanratty struck her three times to the back of her head.
The woman called her mum a short time later and could be heard to say: “help me, mum, help me.”
Hanratty could be heard shouting “stop it!”
He then picked up a cable from the ground next to her and began wrapping it around the woman’s neck and stated: “I’m going to strangle the lift out of you.”
She managed to put her hand in between the cable and her neck and pulled herself free – at which point he struck her several times to the back of the head, causing her to become dizzy once more.
The woman’s mum arrived with her partner and the police were called, with Hanratty leaving before they arrived.
As a result of this most recent assault, the woman as left with a number of facial injuries.
In the dock, Hanratty pleaded guilty to three charges of acting in a threatening or abusive manner and two charges of assault.
‘He is disturbed by what happened’
Defence solicitor Tony Burgess told the court that his client had “allowed himself to get this way through the influence of alcohol and drugs”.
“His life at this time was in total disarray and his partner tried to get medical help for him,” the solicitor said.
“Mr Hanratty knows he needs to be punished and he couldn’t believe that he had done what he did, but he was fully accepting of the evidence.
“He knows these are serious and he is clearly disturbed by what happened – he never wants to repeat it again.”
Sheriff Wallace told Hanratty that he was satisfied a custodial sentence was appropriate due to the nature of his offences and “your history of less serious domestic offending against the same complainer, culminating in the serious incident afterwards”.
“You are appearing in court having assaulted the same woman again.”
Sherif Wallace sentenced Hanratty, of Carden’s Knowe, Aberdeen, to 30 months in prison.
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