A man has avoided jail after admitting to years of violent domestic abuse towards his ex-partner.
Matthew Watson, 41, had been in a relationship with the woman for almost a year before the Covid lockdown in March 2020.
The pair had been living in a caravan with the woman’s children from a previous relationship when Watson first began the assaults, the court heard.
Fiscal depute Dylan Middleton said Watson and the woman had started to “argue frequently” in front of the children about their sex life and he would call her derogatory names.
Heated arguments
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told Watson would throw household items around during these arguments and that the relationship began to deteriorate.
The couple moved to a house later in 2020, where the arguments continued.
The court was told that Watson would often make threats to kill himself or throw himself off a cliff.
Watson would also often become violent and would punch the woman on her head and body in front of her children.
Chased with a knife
During one such argument, Watson was said to have chased her and her children around the house with a kitchen knife.
Watson also admitted on one occasion, in early 2023, grabbing her by the throat with one hand and pushing her against a wall and throttling her until she lost consciousness.
The court was told this also happened in front of the children who were shouting for him to stop and were hitting him in an effort to end the assault.
Watson, of Ward Road, Rosehearty, pled guilty to an amended charge.
Domestic abuse conviction
Watson was convicted of endangering the woman’s life by compressing her neck until she lost consciousness, repeatedly shouting and swearing in an aggressive manner towards her, throwing household items, threatening to kill himself, punching her on the head and body and pursuing her and her children whilst holding a knife.
Watson’s defence solicitor Mike Burnett said his client took issue with some of the contents of the woman’s victim impact statement and described the whole situation as a “house of horrors” because of the woman’s own behaviour.
“He wants to resolve this case to prevent the children having to be involved in a trial,” Mr Burnett said.
Sentencing
Sheriff Lesley Johnstone set Watson’s offending had met the threshold for custody but said instead she would be imposing a sentence that would be more suitable, adding: “So that you do not expose another female partner to this behaviour.”
She placed Watson under a Community Payback Order with 240 hours of unpaid work to be carried out within 18 months and ordered him to complete the Caledonian Programme.
Watson was also placed under a Restriction of Liberty Order for 10 months meaning he must stay at his home address daily between 7pm and 7am.
She also made a non-harassment order to stop Watson contacting his ex-partner for an indefinite period.