An ex-soldier who attacked his former and current partners avoided jail yesterday following a plea for mercy from his most recent victim.
Elgin Sheriff Court heard Lynn Ward wanted to stay with Stephen Whitehurst – despite “fearing for her life” as he repeatedly pinned her down and suffocated her after catching her smoking.
Whitehurst admitted assaulting Ms Ward at a party on the night of August 23 last year – and an attack on his former girlfriend Katrina Matthew while she was five months pregnant with his child.
The first incident happened when the couple’s relationship broke down and Ms Matthew asked him to move out of her Forres flat on November 10, 2013.
Nine months later, he struck again after he and Ms Ward had been entertaining friends at St Brydes Court, Lhanbryde.
Whitehurst, 34, stumbled upon his partner sharing a cigarette with their guests, after she had recently quit smoking.
This sparked an argument between the couple when the friends left at around 11pm, which escalated into a seven-hour ordeal for Ms Ward.
Whitehurst, whose address was given in court as 71 Herriot Crescent, Methil, in Fife, repeatedly seized his girlfriend by the wrists, neck, hair and body and pinned her to the sofa with his full body weight.
On several occasions, he pressed his hand over Ms Ward’s nose and mouth, restricting her breathing and leaving her dizzy.
Fiscal depute Ruairidh McAlister said: “She thought her life was in danger. She tried to break free and at one point had her fingers in his eye. She instinctively punched him in the face three times and he started bleeding. He got up and said, ‘Come on then.’
“She punched him again in the eye, and asked if he was going to kill her. She described him simply as snarling back at her.”
Sheriff John Rafferty said: “This was a very considerable act of violence on someone who was clearly terrified and lasted for a duration of some hours, albeit there were periods when the violence did desist.
“Were it not for a number of factors, you would be going to jail today. The very important factor is the position of Lynn Ward, who wrote a letter to the court.”
Whitehurst was sentenced to 250 hours of unpaid work and must carry out a 20-week domestic abuse course as an alternative to custody.
The sheriff also imposed a special conduct requirement that he must not to be alone in private with Ms Ward for six months.