A serial abuser whose explosive outbursts left his partner in constant pain and covered in bruises has been jailed for 27 months.
Bruce Burry subjected his girlfriend to a five year campaign of cruelty, Perth Sheriff Court heard.
The 39-year-old regularly slapped and beat his victim throughout the turbulent relationship.
Burry was jailed in 2019 for threatening to gouge his then-partner’s eye out with a fork as part of murder-suicide bid.
He was sentenced to 27 months when he returned to the dock this week, having pled guilty to repeatedly assaulting the woman to her injury at their homes in Dundee, between March 2007 and July 2011, and again from March 2014 to March 2015.
The attacks happened at their various houses including properties in Dee Place, Brewery Lane and Strathmartine Road.
Burry also pled guilty to possession of class C Etizolam tablets.
He is likely to be released soon, having already served the equivalent of a 25-month sentence.
Burry will be placed under supervision for 12 months when he is freed.
He was also ordered to stay away from anyone involved in the drugs trade.
Getting clean
Sheriff William Wood told him: “You ought to be wondering what sort of future life has in store for you.
“That is entirely in your own gift.
“If you don’t commit offence, you won’t go to jail. It’s as simple as that.”
He said: “There seems to be some blame placed on the fact that a lot of your offences were committed while you were intoxicated on drugs.
“Therein lies your problem.”
Sheriff Wood added: “I’m told that you have spent your time on remand getting yourself clean of drugs.
“I also note that you say your relationship was characterised by mutual violence.
“But that doesn’t really matter, it is still wrong.
“You have to accept your significant part in that.
“Clearly, she came off worse in every occasion.”
He added: “Only a custodial sentence is appropriate, standing your record.”
Frequent attacks
Fiscal depute Gavin Burton told the court: “The accused would frequently punch the complainer on the stomach, he would seize her by the hair, slap her on the back of the head or the side of her face.”
He said: “On one occasion, after the couple had separated for a time, the accused was discussing his relationship with the complainer, with a view to resuming the relationship.
“The complainer told him she would not resume the relationship, which caused the accused to become unhappy.
“He stood up and kicked her on the body.
“As a result of all these assaults, the complainer suffered pain and bruising to her body and tailbone.”
Crack and valium
The court heard the violence happened while Burry and his partner were on “crack and valium”.
Burry, who says he is now drug free, has spent more than a year on remand.
“The accused is pretty well time served for the offences for which he has pled guilty,” a defence agent for Burry said.
“I would invite my lord to take that view and liberate him soon, with a supervised release order.”
He added: “The prognosis looks pretty promising for Mr Burry.”
Eye threat
Burry was jailed for 28 months in February 2019 for an earlier burst of violence against his then-partner.
At one point he told his victim he was going to kill her, then himself, then pressed a fork against her face and said he was going to gouge her eye out so “no guy would look at her again”.
He then threatened to kill her and smeared his blood across her face so he could claim he had attacked her in self defence.
His assault only ended when police arrived, prompting him to flee to the roof, where he began a three-hour siege during which he hurled bricks at police cars below.
