A thug has been jailed for repeatedly abusing and attacking his partner during and after her pregnancy.
In one incident, Kevin O’Donnell bit the woman as she lay on the ground after she threw a drink over him.
The 28-year-old started abusing the woman on May 5 2020, the day he was released from prison and while she was heavily pregnant.
O’Donnell was handed a further jail term after he pled guilty to engaging in an abusive course of conduct between May and July last year at multiple addresses in Dundee.
Arm bite
The city’s sheriff court heard how the relationship was good after his release but according to the woman, O’Donnell “turned horrible”.
Fiscal depute Gavin Burton said the accused grabbed the woman by the throat as she was driving near Asda Kirkton, after she said the relationship was over.
On June 24, a friend drove O’Donnell to the woman’s home, where another row erupted.
Mr Burton said: “She got into the back seat to try and sort things out in the relationship.
“She would pour a drink over the accused. They ended up on the ground outside and the accused bit her on the upper right arm leaving clear bruising.
“Their relationship would continue until July when they became embroiled in a heated exchange at 5.30am in the morning.”
O’Donnell punched his victim hard enough in the ribs to leave her winded.
Police were contacted and O’Donnell pinned the woman to the bed while punching her repeatedly.
He said: “I don’t want to have to do this.”
I simply cannot understand how your behaviour towards your expectant girlfriend and mother of your child deteriorated so rapidly.”
Sheriff McFarlane
The screaming woman managed to flee the address and was later found by officers. She had a lump on her head, a bruised arm and cut lip.
O’Donnell, a prisoner of HMP Perth, pled guilty to repeatedly shouting and swearing, seizing the woman’s throat, biting her on the body, trying to seize her phone, pinning her to a bed and repeatedly punching her on the head and body on Balgowan Avenue, Craigard Road and Strathmartine Road between May 5 and July 2 2020.
Solicitor Anne Duffy said the pair’s relationship was volatile when alcohol was involved, adding the woman had made repeated efforts to contact O’Donnell.
Sheriff Richard McFarlane ordered O’Donnell to serve 100 days of an unexpired prison sentence, before imposing a 16-month jail term.
He said: “You had a girlfriend to go back to, a child that was due to be born and had a lot of good things to look forward to.
“This course of criminal conduct starts at a time when your girlfriend is approaching the date of her confinement.
“I simply cannot understand how your behaviour towards your expectant girlfriend and mother of your child deteriorated so rapidly.”
