A “controlling” boyfriend who shot his girlfriend with an air pistol after she refused to fetch him a glass of water boasted to pals: “That’s what happens when you are cheeky”.
Ryan York, 25, of Brook Court, Dundee, ordered Sarah McLeod to get out of bed and get him water, pulling out the weapon when she seemed reluctant.
Fiscal depute Vicki Bell told Dundee Sheriff Court: “She assumed it was a replica or fake gun.
“However, he pointed the gun directly at her and shouted ‘get up and get water, you will go get it now’.
“She turned and walked towards the door and heard a loud pinging noise.
“She looked down at her leg and saw heavy blood flow coming from her lower calf area.
“She screamed that he had shot her and he replied, ‘I couldn’t have shot you as there were no bullets’.
“He then told her she could not contact anyone about this as he would go to jail.”
He admitted that at one point he had aimed the pistol at the victim’s feet and ordered her to “dance, dance, dance”.
The next day, she went to Ninewells Hospital because the pain was “unbearable”.
She was given an x-ray and a small metal pellet was found in her leg and removed.
Doctors reported their findings to police, believing it was a gunshot wound.
York later boasted to friends that he was responsible for shooting Miss McLeod and told them: “That’s what happens when you are cheeky.”
Miss McLeod tried to cover for York when she was at hospital, telling staff she had been at a party and could not remember what happened, but almost a year later she told police the truth, after the couple had split.
Solicitor Ian Myles, defending, said: “He had checked the gun previously and didn’t think it was loaded. He should not have pointed it anyone, never mind fire it.”
York admitted a charge of assault to injury on December 13, 2014.
Sheriff Alastair Brown said: “Your behaviour towards this young woman was controlling and manipulative.
“You did not simply assault her — you treated her like dirt, like your personal servant.
“You threatened her with a gun when she appeared reluctant to get you water.
“You told the social worker that you pointed the gun at her and told her to ‘dance, dance, dance’. That is despicable.”
York was jailed for 32 months and placed on a one-year supervision order upon his release.
https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/fp/dundee-man-25-jailed-shooting-girlfriend-failed-get-water/
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