A Kirkcaldy man has been locked up for almost three years after pleading guilty to a stomach-turning sustained domestic assault.
Removals man Paul Bilan took both a knife and a screwdriver to his new partner’s ear after a night of drinking in Glenrothes.
The woman was left permanently disfigured as a result of Bilan’s latest domestic offence.
His solicitor told a court: “I can’t put any sort of gloss on what happened.”
Bilan, 35, was locked up for 32 months.
Gruesome sustained assault
Fiscal depute Christine Allan explained to Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court noise was heard coming from a property in Altyre Avenue, Glenrothes at around midnight on May 1 last year.
As well as swearing and banging, a male voice was heard to shout “f*** off,” sounding angry and drunk.
Witnesses reported this lasted around five minutes.
A disturbance was then reported at 1.25am after a woman was heard screaming inside the property and a male was heard asking: “Do you want me to hit you even more?”
Police attended shortly after 2am and heard a male shouting from inside.
Officers met Bilan’s victim, who was in tears, her face bruised and swelling.
Bilan was still inside and police could see signs of a disturbance.
After Bilan was arrested, his victim told police he had cut her with a knife and pushed a screwdriver in her ear.
A long laceration could be seen behind the woman’s ear, which was cut open so badly the officer could see through her ear.
She was taken to hospital with a blood-stained discharge from the external auditory canal of her left ear.
Lawyer — Bilan ‘behaved disgracefully’
Perth Prison inmate Bilan pled guilty to assault to severe injury and permanent disfigurement.
He admitted kicking the woman on the body, attempting to pull her arms away from her face, repeatedly attempting to strike her on the face with a knife, striking her ear with a knife and pushing a screwdriver into her ear.
Allegations his victim was pregnant at the time were removed from from the charge.
Defending, solicitor David Cranston said both Bilan and his victim were drunk.
“He was in a relationship with this woman for a short time.
“He’d known her years before; a chance meeting led to them catching up.
“She had made it clear to him in the hours before this took place that she wanted more of a relationship.
“What could have been a sensible discussion blew out of all proportion.
“Mr Bilan accepts things became heated and he behaved disgracefully.
“I can’t put any sort of gloss on what happened.”
‘Utterly terrifying’ attack
Mr Cranston said Bilan lives with his mother in Kirkcaldy when at liberty.
He said Bilan, who had been working as a removals man, “clearly has anger management issues and issues with relationships.”
Sheriff Robert More backdated the prison sentence to May 2 last year when Bilan was first remanded and imposed a non-harassment order to protect the victim from any contact for a decade.
He said: “You clearly have a difficulty as far as domestically aggravated offending is concerned.
“I do regard this as being especially serious for a sheriff court.
“This must have been utterly terrifying for the complainer.
Previous domestic conviction
In 2021, Bilan was jailed for three years for another domestic assault.
He unleashed an attack on his partner after she discovered his texts to an ex-girlfriend.
Bilan admitted repeatedly punching the woman on the head, giving her a bloody nose.
He also threatened her with violence while holding a knife.
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