A controlling thug who left his girlfriend with a broken jaw after punching her in the face has been ordered to pay her £2,000 in compensation.
A pair of metal plates and eight screws had to be fitted into the woman’s jaw after she was thumped by Jay Taylor, her former partner.
Taylor also bombarded his victim with 176 phone calls and repeatedly threatened suicide during a string of messages, Dundee Sheriff Court was told.
The woman now has difficulties eating and suffers from numbness on her bottom lip.
Sheriff Richard MacFarlane told Taylor: “The consequences for your former girlfriend after you punched her on the head are horrendous.
“She will never have the same use of her jaw again, notwithstanding medics’ best efforts.
“The options are stark but you have relative youth on your side, you are in employment and the latter point allows me to consider not sending you to prison.”
Prosecutor Emily Hood revealed how Taylor and the woman were arguing at his former home in Forfar before Taylor violently lashed out at her.
“The complainer tried to leave a bedroom but the accused grabbed her right arm and spun her around.
“He punched the left side of her face, causing her to fall on to the bed.
“She felt instant pain, shock and noticed her face was bleeding.
“The accused started to apologise and got her a cloth.
“She managed to leave the property and go to a friend’s house.”
‘Scared for her life’
The woman told her friend she had been jumped by a stranger.
However, her friend did not believe her and contacted the woman’s father, who in turn called the police.
Taylor, 21, was arrested and the woman told officers she was “scared for her life” and did not know what Taylor was going to do next.
She spent two nights in hospital after having the plates and screws fitted.
Taylor told police he did not attack the woman and said she had been jumped.
His controlling and coercive behaviour was laid bare in a string of messages that were sent to the woman over a three-month period.
The court heard how Taylor would repeatedly pressurise the woman into speaking to him and continuing their relationship.
He regularly threatened suicide if she did not respond to his communications.
Relationship over
Taylor, of Angus Drive, Montrose, admitted causing the woman to suffer severe injury and permanent impairment after punching her on the head on June 19 2019 on Glenmoy Terrace, Forfar.
Between April 1 and July 31 2019 at the same address, Taylor engaged in an abusive course of conduct by sending the woman controlling and coercive communications.
Solicitor Billy Rennie said: “As appalling as one punch is, it wasn’t his intention to cause this much injury to the complainer.
“He’s a young man who presents as having boredom in his life. He’s not someone who is particularly positive.
“This was nearly two years ago and he knows the relationship is truly over.”
Taylor was ordered to perform 240 hours of unpaid work and pay the woman £2,000 in compensation.
He was also made subject to a non-harassment order for the next four years.
