Man sentenced to community payback order for Newport-on-Tay assault

Troy McRae (28) kicked down a locked bathroom door to get to Sarah Marshall following a night in a Newport-on-Tay pub.

He shattered a glass panel and then tore the door from its hinges.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard he seized her by her neck and threw her against a wall, causing her head to bounce off it.

He then threw her to the ground, causing her to strike her head off a sink.

McRae only stopped when friends intervened, leaving Miss Marshall to slump to the floor.

Moments later, as McRae left the house, she collapsed in the hallway and paramedics were called.

McRae’s rampage then continued in the street outside, where he assaulted a neighbour who had come to investigate the disturbance.

Fiscal depute Susan Ruta told the court the accused and his victim had known each other for around a year but had been in a relationship for little more than four weeks.

They had been out drinking at a local pub when the incident began in June last year.

When they began to argue at the Brig o’ Tay pub, his partner and her friends left to return to her home.

McRae joined them ten minutes later, angry and agitated and refusing to be calmed.

He threw one of his partner’s friends on to a sofa and then picked up a coffee table and smashed it against a wall.

When he then retired to a bedroom, Miss Marshall locked herself in a bathroom and ran a bath.

Matters escalated when McRae came knocking at the door.

The court heard that his victim had sustained a swollen left eye in the assault that followed and she told paramedics she had lost consciousness, though she did not require hospitalisation.

McRae, who lives in Dundee, pleaded guilty to three charges of assault and one of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner at an address in Newport-on-Tay on May 29 and 30 last year and a breach of bail conditions on June 9, 2015.

Defence solicitor George Donnelly said: “An ambulance man stated that when he checked over the complainer there were no obvious injuries.

“He could not tell if Miss Marshall had been assaulted.

“There was also no medical evidence that there had been a gap in consciousness.”

He added that his client was a first offender and that there was nothing in his previous relationships to suggest that he had behaved in such a manner before.

The court heard that the pair’s relationship had continued since the assault — despite a bail condition preventing them from having contact.

Police officers discovered McRae at Miss Marshall’s home on one occasion as they carried out a “welfare check”.

They could see the couple together through a window, but after opening the door to them, Miss Marshall told them she was alone.

McRae was found hiding under her bed.

Sheriff Alastair Brown imposed a community payback order with 270 hours unpaid work and one years supervision.

He said: “The allegations to which you have pleaded guilty seem to describe a rather serious assault.”