A bullying Inverness domestic abuser’s anger worried a woman so much that she grabbed a rolling pin and told him she would use it to defend herself if needed.
Martin Shaw also displayed aggression to a second partner, losing his temper when she cooked for him, Inverness Sheriff Court was told.
When the second woman ended the relationship he also brandished a pool cue rest at her daughter as she tried to return his belongings.
Shaw, 47, appeared in the dock for sentencing having previously admitted a breach of the peace in relation to the first woman, engaging in a course of behaviour that was abusive to the second and threatening behaviour towards her daughter.
Fiscal depute Victoria Silver told the court that a woman, who was in a relationship with Shaw from 2002 to 2003, had described how he would get “very angry” with her and “his face would tense”.
She said: “On one occasion where he was displaying this behaviour she picked up a rolling pin.
“She told the accused she would use it to defend herself.”
Woman received threatening messages
The court heard that when that relationship came to an end the woman received threatening messages from Shaw for “some time”.
A second woman, who became involved with Shaw in 2019, described how he would pick fault with the breakfasts she cooked, telling her: “I’m not f***ing eating it”.
He would also become angry if she failed to cook for him.
Ms Silver said: “He had a routine whereby he would become angry for no reason and would leave and drink alcohol all day before contacting her to come and get him and get food.”
The fiscal depute explained that on one occasion Shaw, his partner and his mother all went on a trip and in the morning he declined to join the two for breakfast.
“He later became angry that they had gone to breakfast without him,” she said.
The court heard his behaviour prompted his mother to state she would not go away with him again.
Friends of Shaw’s former partner described how she had become “withdrawn” and “lacking in confidence” during the relationship and had been left “fearful of the accused” even after the relationship ended.
When the couple did split, the woman’s daughter visited Oscar’s Bar in Dingwall to facilitate the return of some belongings to Shaw, but he immediately became angry and shouted at her saying: “Get yourself to f*** with your fake t***.
Man brandished pool cue rest
He then lifted a pool cue rest above his head “as if he was going to strike her”.
The woman, who was recovering from surgery at the time, was “scared” by his actions.
Solicitor Natalie Paterson, for Shaw, invited Sheriff Gary Aitken to defer sentencing further to allow her client to be assessed for potential programme requirements of a community-based punishment.
Sheriff Aitken called for Shaw, of Fairfield Road, Inverness, to undergo an assessment of suitability for the Caledonian Men’s Programme – designed to address domestic offending.
The case will call again next month.