A MAN strangled a woman in front of a child and then went on to stalk her.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard the youngster “gently shook her” for a few minutes before she awoke “dazed and confused”.
The court heard the woman did not report the incident to police as she was too “frightened” but she did so when the man began stalking her.
Brian Edwards, 29, of Perth Prison, admitted one charge of assault and a second charge of stalking.
Fiscal depute Vicki Bell told the court the assault took place at a property in Dundee during an argument between Edwards and the woman.
The fiscal said: “She was on one side of the bed and he was on the other. He climbed over the bed and grabbed the complainer and placed her in a headlock.
“She tried to get away but was unable to overcome his strength. He said, ‘You’re going night-nights,’ and she lost consciousness.”
The woman’s child came into the bedroom and saw the woman in a headlock, which he described as a “sleeper hold”.
The fiscal said: “The child thought she was dead as she just slumped to the floor.
“The accused left the room.
“The child went over and gently shook her and after a few minutes she awoke and saw her child and the accused standing over her.”
Later the woman began receiving text messages and calls from Edwards and changed her phone number.
Edwards then called her from a mutual friend’s phone and repeatedly from a withheld number.
That same day she received 48 text messages from Edwards and three days later she received 140 text messages from him.
During the messages he called her offensive names and made threats of violence to her.
The following month she received three letters from Edwards from Perth Prison and at that point she contacted the police.
Edwards, previously of Arklay Street, admitted one charge of assault to injury, between July 1 and September 24 last year, at a property in Dundee, and a second charge of engaging in a course of conduct which placed a woman in a state of fear and alarm, between July 1 and November 5 last year.
His sentence was deferred until February 26.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Telegraph website. For more information, read about our new combined website.