A terrified mother begged for mercy as her partner brutally attacked her following a furious row over whose turn it was to feed their baby daughter.
Ms MacDonald said Ms Rowe then tried to make her way upstairs to tend to their daughter, who was still crying.
”She begged the accused for mercy…and he went back to bed and went to sleep.”
Ms Rowe, meanwhile, went to the baby’s room.
”At 4am she sent a text to both her mother and her brother saying ‘help me’,” the depute fiscal continued.
A few hours later, Ms Rowe’s stepfather saw the message on his partner’s phone and went to the house.
”The complainer stated that the accused had assaulted her and her stepfather helped her to pick up her belongings and collect her daughter before leaving the house,” Ms MacDonald added.
A neighbour later told police he had become alarmed after he heard a woman shouting, ”Get off me, you are hurting me”.
Ms Rowe sustained bruising to her neck and back and attended at her GP the following day.
Walker’s solicitor said he was now ashamed of his behaviour on the night in question.
”He accepts full responsibility for his actions,” she said. ”Mr Walker has shown genuine remorse.”
Sheriff Charles Macnair said he was ”just persuaded” not to hand down a custodial sentence.
”This was a very nasty assault,” he continued. ”It was not just one incident but continued after she managed to get away downstairs.”
Walker was placed on probation for two years and ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work. He must also pay compensation of £750 to his victim.
Sheriff Macnair said any breach of probation would almost certainly result in a jail term.
”This is your last chance,” he warned.
Thomas Walker began to strangle Christy Rowe at a house in Glenrothes after their three-month-old daughter awoke in the middle of the night.
After she escaped and lay cowering at the bottom of the stairs, he then kicked her on the body.
Walker, of Glenbervie Road, Grangemouth, admitted that on December 7 he assaulted Ms Rowe, placing his hands around her neck and compressing her throat.
The 21-year-old also pushed his then partner over, causing her to fall to the ground, and kicked her on the body to her injury.
Cupar Sheriff Court heard Ms Rowe packed up her belongings and escaped from the property with her daughter just a few hours after her horrific ordeal.
Depute fiscal Diana MacDonald said the pair had been in a relationship for around two years when the offence occurred.
”At about 3.30am the complainer was woken up by the sound of their five-month-old daughter crying in her bedroom,” she told the court.
”She tried to wake the accused as it was his turn to feed their daughter and they got into an argument about whose turn it was. The row became very heated and the accused was shouting and swearing.”
Ms MacDonald said things very quickly got out of hand.
”The accused lent over and put both hands around the complainer’s neck and compressed her neck,” she continued. ”She felt he was trying to strangle her and was panicking. She tried to get free and shouted at him to get off.”
Walker eventually let go and Ms Rowe fled from the bedroom.
”She was extremely upset and went to the kitchen to get a drink because her throat was sore,” Ms MacDonald said. ”However, the accused followed her and again began to argue with her.
”He pushed her which caused her to fall over…she managed to crawl to the bottom of the stairs and the accused then kicked her.”
Continued…