Inverness Sheriff Court orders man to stay away from ‘love of his life’ for 7.5 years
A 22-year-old Inverness man who threatened to kill "the love of his life" and burn her mother's house down has avoided a jail sentence and ordered to stay away from the woman for seven-and-a-half years.
But Scott Smith, who was described as an Inverness prisoner, got a stern warning from Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald when he appeared before her for sentence that he would "go straight back to jail if there is one slip-up in this community-based disposal".
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His solicitor advocate Clare Russell told the sheriff that her client had never had the opportunity of a community payback order and had been in and out of custody. She criticised the social background report prepared on Smith, saying it was "appalling" and contained a number of inaccuracies. She added that it did not address other sentencing options except a custodial one and asked the sheriff to consider all alternatives, including a non-custodial one.
Ms Russell said: "His childhood underpins his offending as he was raised by two parents who were entrenched in a criminal lifestyle. His mother died from substance abuse and he began his substance abuse to deal with his grief."
Smith had previously admitted at Inverness Sheriff Court a total of seven charges, comprising three of abusive and threatening behaviour towards his ex-partner, conducting a campaign of domestic abuse and three breaches of bail by contacting the woman between March and August last year.
Sheriff Macdonald described Smith's behaviour as "particularly frightening and persistent”, adding: “You behaved appallingly over a period of months. My first instinct was to send you to jail but you have served on remand the equivalent of a 16-month sentence and you would be out very soon without any support.
"So I will impose a community-based disposal. This may help you to stay out of trouble in the future."
Smith was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, remain under social work supervision for three years and take part in a programme for domestic abusers. The court had been told that Smith now accepted the relationship was over.
Fiscal depute Emily Hood previously told the court that in the early hours of March 2 last year, Smith went to the woman's home in Inverness and began banging on the windows.
"He was threatening to kill her and calling her a cheating cow," she said.
Ms Hood said Smith left the property but returned, smashed a kitchen window, threatening to kill anyone who was in the property and climbed in as the frightened woman fled out the front door.
"The following month she got text messages calling her a grass and a cheat and 93 calls from a withheld number,” Ms Hood said. “She answered one and he told her: 'All your windows are getting put in. I am going to punch you on the face and drag you along the ground.'“
The court heard Smith sent one apology but then his jealous and angry behaviour continued for several weeks with an early morning incident on May 17 when he appeared outside her home and accused her of being with someone else.
On August 8, Ms Hood added, Smith turned up at her mother's home shouting at his ex-partner: "I am going to take the head off you and set fire to your mother's house. He repeated the threat later that day and called his ex ‘a sl*t’."
