A domestic bully who attacked partners in Angus has narrowly avoided imprisonment after being convicted by jurors.
Following a trial at Forfar Sheriff Court, Alasdair Cannon, 29, was found guilty of five domestically-aggravated offences.
His crimes, including seizing one woman by the throat and restricting her breathing and striking another’s head off a car, were committed between 2013 and 2020.
At a sentencing hearing, solicitor Nick Whelan said a domestic abuser’s rehabilitation programme has curtailed his client’s offending and Cannon, of Bonnyton Road in Auchterhouse, was allowed to keep his liberty.
Offences against three women
Cannon was found guilty of assaulting a partner on various occasions in 2013.
He pushed the woman on the body, pinned her against a wall, seized her by the throat and compressed it, restricting her breathing.
In the same year, he acted in an abusive manner towards the woman at home and in car parks in Dundee by shouting and swearing at her.
A second partner of Cannon’s was found to have been subject to his threatening behaviour between July 2018 and January 2019, when he was found to have repeatedly shouted at her and refused to take her home when she was in his car.
Cannon was convicted of offences relating to a third partner, committed between May 2019 and the following year, assaulting her in Dundee by pushing her.
He seized her head and struck it off the inside of a car while he was driving and pulled clothing around her neck, restricting her breathing.
During a course of abusive behaviour, he acted in a coercive, controlling and possessive manner and accused her of infidelity, called her derogatory names and threatened her with violence, as well as refusing to let her leave a car.
Domestic abuse rehab
Solicitor Nick Whelan said his client began the two-year Fergus Programme – court-ordered after another domestic crime – in 2019 and although his offending continued into 2020, said it had worked.
Sheriff Krista Johnston noted the crimes Cannon was convicted of continued until into 2020, but Mr Whelan said this showed the programme had worked.
He said: “He seems to form deep relationships quickly that intensify fairly quickly.
“He struggles to control his anger management.”
He went on: “He’s been in a relationship for a significant period of time.
“They’re now living together. There’s been no police involvement.
“On the face of it, his risk of offending has been reduced.
“He’s working full-time, as he’s done for some time.”
He suggested unpaid work and a “substantial” fine instead of prison.
‘Deserve to be punished’
As a direct alternative, Sheriff Krista Johnston imposed 300 hours of unpaid work, supervision and a five-year non-harassment order to protect the three women.
Addressing Cannon, the sheriff added: “It’s clear that between… 2013 to a point in 2020, you behaved in a coercive and controlling way towards your partners.
“That had a significant impact upon them.
“You expressed regret and remorse.
“What you deserve is to be punished for the way in which you behaved.
“I’m told that subsequently, you completed a programme which is specifically designed to deal with people who have this attitude.
“That is the one piece of information that I can accept might persuade me not to send you to prison today.”
She added: “If you set a foot wrong, this is a direct alternative to custody.”
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