A former soldier who subjected his partner to a shocking five-year catalogue of domestic abuse has been ordered to stay away from her.
Mark Rigby appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he admitted frequent drunken violent outbursts and verbal assaults on the woman – even letting force a volley of verbal put-downs on the day of her father’s funeral.
It was stated that the 50-year-old throttled the woman on a number of occasions and verbally abused her while she worked in a Huntly bar, with Rigby became progressively drunk and belligerent.
Rigby, who represented himself in court, said he wondered if his time in the armed forces may have contributed to his abusive behaviour.
Describing the offences as “nasty”, Sheriff Graham Buchan ordered Rigby to stay away from his former partner for five years.
Victim throttled by Rigby
Fiscal depute Rebecca Coakley told the court that during the relationship the woman described Rigby as being “extremely aggressive and volatile” and called her various derogatory names.
During these moments, the woman would become scared, knowing Rigby’s behaviour would escalate when they got home as he would attack her either physically or verbally.
The regular routine was that Rigby would drink to excess in the local pub and talk to the woman in a derogatory manner while she worked behind the bar there.
During the relationship, Rigby regularly assaulted the woman by strangling her, squeezing her neck hard enough that she struggled to breathe.
On the day of her father’s funeral Rigby again drank to excess, calling the woman more derogatory names.
She was particularly hurt and upset by this because her father had just died and she was in the process of trying to grieve, the court was told.
Following this, his behaviour got worse, Ms Coakley said, and a few months later the woman informed Rigby she wanted to leave him.
He responded by telling her that she could never leave.
Rigby pushed woman to the ground
On another occasion at Huntly Golf Club, Rigby made various offensive comments towards the woman.
At around 6pm, as they walked home, Rigby accused the woman of “going back” to another man and verbally abused her.
Rigby then came towards her and pushed her on both shoulders, causing her to trip over and fall to the pavement and bang her head on the ground.
On another occasion, the woman was so frightened about what Rigby might do that she screamed for help and two customers in the bar came to her aid.
She thereafter contacted the police, who interviewed Rigby and where he made admissions to drinking to excess and blacking out.
In the dock, Rigby admitted one charge of engaging in a course of behaviour that was abusive to his partner.
‘Very nasty abuse’
Representing himself in court, Rigby said he had “no idea what had happened” during the incidents because he had blackouts where he “can’t remember anything”.
But added he had “no reason not to believe” what the woman had told police and “deeply, deeply regretted it”.
“I don’t know what causes these blackouts – I don’t know if it’s to do with me being in the army,” he said.
Sheriff Buchanan told Rigby that he noted he wanted help with his problems and his issues that could have come from him being in the armed forces.
“These are serious offences because of the length of time over which you committed them,” the sheriff said.
“It involved some very nasty abuse, including significant physical abuse.”
He said the incidents were serious enough to merit a custodial sentence but wouldn’t do that because Rigby has never committed a crime before and also because he admitted his guilt at the first opportunity.
As an alternative to a prison sentence, Sheriff Buchanan made Rigby, Old Road, Huntly, subject to a community payback order with supervision for two years and ordered him to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.
He also put a non-harassment order in place, meaning Rigby cannot approach his former partner for five years, and ordered him to take part in a two-year domestic abuse programme.
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