A charity boss has spoken out after a thug who subjected two women to horrific abuse had his prison term quashed.
Sinead Daly, of the Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre (WRASAC) in Dundee, said it was “very disappointing” that judges had opted to free Daniel Mudie.
The 35-year-old subjected the women to brutal attacks – beating one of them in such a way her friends and family would not be able to see her bruises.
He repeatedly spat on a second victim when she was pregnant and pushed her over, causing her to fall on her stomach.
Mudie was locked up for four and a half years but has now been released from prison and instead ordered to carry out unpaid work.
A panel of judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the sentence imposed by Sheriff Alastair Brown at Dundee Sheriff Court and instead imposed a community payback order with two years’ supervision and 200 hours of unpaid work – to be completed within 12 months.
Ms Daly said: “It is very disappointing given the prevalence of domestic abuse in our society.
“What kind of message does this send out to women who have suffered this kind of abuse? I think he should be doing his term. It’s all about the severity of the crime.
“So much domestic abuse goes unreported because of the level of coercive control.
“He should be seen to serve that sentence as a message to others and to the women who are suffering already.”
Mudie, of Foundry Lane, pleaded guilty to charges of assault to injury between January 2004 and March 2009, of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner between October 2010 and October 2012 and another charge of assault between June 2010 and March 2011.
Sheriff Brown said when sentencing Mudie: “Neither society nor this court will tolerate domestic abuse.”
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