Adrian Peter Dodd, 27, admitted four counts of assaulting his former partner and an offence against her under the new Domestic Abuse and Related Provisions Law. All were part of the same incident.
The matters put him in breach of a six-month suspended sentence which was imposed in November 2024 for similar offending against a former partner. That was activated consecutively in full which took the total sentence to three and a half years.
Passing sentence, Lt-Bailiff Russell Finch said this had been a deeply unpleasant and protracted incident for which the consequences to the victim would extend beyond the violence she suffered. A probation officer had concluded that the defendant posed a danger to women without intervention. His behaviour towards her had been bullying and cowardly.
In her victim impact statement, which was read to the court, the woman said the incident had affected her ability to trust people and she felt particularly uncomfortable about men.
Crown Advocate Jenny McVeigh told the court how the couple’s relationship had broken down four years earlier.
On the day of these offences Dodd had asked if he could go to her home to discuss a family matter and the woman reluctantly agreed. She wanted their conversation to be on the doorstep but when he arrived at 10.45pm he was abusive and pushed her over before entering the property.
The woman went upstairs to her bedroom to recover her mobile phone. Dodd followed and when the woman tried to leave the room he pushed her to the floor for a second time and put both hands on her neck while she struggled to get him off her.
She ended up sitting in the corner of the room where the defendant covered her head with a duvet saying he did not want to see her, and told her not to breathe or make any noise. He blamed her for his behaviour.
She told him: ‘Once an abuser, always an abuser.’
When she tried to leave the room he stopped her by pulling her hair and holding her clothes. He pushed her on to the bed and began to strangle her, with the woman saying later that she thought she was going to die.
She managed to move herself to the corner of the room where Dodd struck her a number of times on the head.
He directed threats and verbal insults towards her before removing her phone to stop her from calling the police.
He put a pillow over her face. She said this made her feel dizzy and she was struggling to breathe. He told her she would not make it to the next morning.
A neighbour reported later hearing a woman’s screams coming from the property and what he thought was something being thrown around.
The incident ran into the next day and Dodd was arrested the day after following the woman’s complaint to police.
He gave no comment responses to questions in two interviews.
Defending, Advocate Sam Maindonald said no evidence had been heard in this case.
Her client had entered his guilty pleas as he did not want cause the woman more stress, but that did not mean he accepted everything that had been said.
She spoke of her client’s ‘demons in the past’ and a downward spiral.
Alcohol had played a part in all of his offending and he was a completely different person when sober.
Sentences of three years concurrent were imposed for each assault, plus 18 months concurrent for the domestic abuse.
A restraining order was also imposed.