An Aberdeen photographer has gone on trial accused of carrying out a brutal and unprovoked attack on his partner at a holiday home on the Isle of Skye.
Sam Brill, 38, denies a charge of assault to danger of life and has lodged a special defence of self-defence.
The woman gave evidence on the first day of his trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and told the jury that Brill flew into a violent rage as they watched TV.
She said he punched her on the head, kicked her on the body and sat on her before strangling her to the point of unconsciousness.
The jury was played audio – allegedly taken after the assault – in which she asks Brill why he assaulted her before branding him “disgusting”.
Lost consciousness
The alleged assault took place at a holiday cottage on Skye, where Brill had been commissioned by the owners to take photos and drone footage.
The woman said the alleged attack came after the couple argued while watching television in the lounge.
“He was making remarks about my size and started pressing on my stomach,” she told the jury.
“He was laughing that I was overweight.”
She said the argument escalated.
“He was calling me names. It was what I would call ‘roaring’ at me,” she said.
‘He gave several kicks to my stomach’
“I began to think if this was why he had brought us out to the middle of nowhere – because my neighbours at home would have heard him shouting like that at me.”
She then said Brill took her phone away from her and she had “brushed” his arm away, adding: “That’s when he grabbed me and threw me on the floor.
“I was all blurry because I had hit my head. He gave several kicks to my stomach and punched my left eye.
“My head was banging off the floor at this point – there were more punches to my face.
“He had got up and was kicking at my stomach – then he straddled me and strangled me.
Woman made phone recording
“I was in a lot of pain – I couldn’t do anything. My arms were pinned down and he had both his hands round my throat.”
Depute advocate Dylan Middleton asked if she thought she had lost consciousness.
She replied: “I must have done. The next thing I remember was being dragged from the lounge into the bedroom.”
She said the incident lasted for a few more minutes and Brill had continued to drag her between the rooms.
After the attack ended, she said, Brill continued shouting and pacing around the cottage and she decided to make a recording on her phone.
Woman smashed picture over alleged abuser’s head
The court heard audio from a video in which she could be heard shouting and asking Brill why he had attacked her.
Brill can be heard making fake crying noises “mimicking her,” and she tells him he is “disgusting” and “needs help”.
The woman said that she feared he was going to attack her again, so she grabbed a picture from the wall and smashed it over his head.
Mr Middleton asked what effect that had, and she replied: “It smashed, he was bleeding. He started screaming ‘how could you do this to me?’.
“He went for a shower and took photos of the cut on his head. I was struggling to swallow and I had a panic attack.
“I woke up on the sofa in the middle of the night and my head was pounding.”
Photos of facial injuries
The court was shown photographs taken by the woman a few days after the alleged assault – now in Aberdeen – showing her with two heavily blackened eyes and more images of bruising on her upper arms.
The court heard how the couple continued with their three-night stay and went out for dinner the following evening to the Three Chimneys restaurant.
Mr Middleton asked how visible her injuries were the next day.
She said: “Very visible. I had lots of make up on, but there was lots of swelling. I could not feel my forehead at all.”
Defence suggests woman acted violently first
“I told them I had fallen at the Fairy Pools the day before,” the woman told the court. “I was trying to protect him.”
Brill’s defence counsel David Moggach cross-examined the woman and suggested she had started the fight by hitting Brill over the head with the picture frame first.
She replied: “That did not happen – he almost killed me. He strangled me – I was scared for my life.”
Mr Moggach asked about the morning after the incident and queried why she had still wanted to be there.
She said: “I was extremely heartbroken about what had gone on the night before.
“I actually wished we had been staying somewhere near a cliff because I felt like jumping off and just dying.
“I could not face the humiliation of going home and having people see me like that.
“But we couldn’t leave, he had to do the work and take the photos. He asked me to model, but we had to keep my face out.”
Police witness
The jury was told that Brill’s Honda Civic was stopped by police for an unrelated traffic matter and officers noticed the woman’s injuries.
Police constable Louise Frair told the court she had stopped Brill’s car on the island on February 23 2023 and was suspicious of Brill because he immediately got out of his car and walked towards them.
Fiscal Middleton asked if she had seen the female passenger. She said: “Yes, she had two black eyes.
“She said she had fallen at the Fairy Pools. But her injuries were not consistent with that.”
Brill is charged with assault to injury and danger of life, by repeatedly punching his then partner on the head, sitting astride her and compressing her neck and causing her to lose consciousness.
The charge goes on to allege he dragged her by the body, repeatedly kicked her on the body, all to her injury.
It is further alleged he behaved in a threatening manner, took her phone from her and then breached a bail condition put in place in preventing him from contacting her in September 2023 after he was charged with the offences.
The trial, being heard by Graham Buchanan, continues.