Assault in the street

Woman grabbed by throat

A 40-year-old man forcibly dragged his partner along the street after a fall-out in a Blairgowrie pub.

Paul Dolan then grabbed the woman by the throat and pinned her against a wall in Terminus Street.

He continued to manhandle her, grabbing her by the wrists, but a concerned member of the public alerted the police.

When the pair got to Morag Leslie’s home in Myrtle Park in Blairgowrie, she told him he might have broken two of her fingers.

But callous Dolan shouted back: “Well, that’s what you get for being an a ****** e.”

He subsequently appeared at Perth Sheriff Court, charged with assault, but was freed on bail, with special conditions not to contact her.

But as soon as he left the dock, he phoned her - and she continued to receive a barrage of calls and texts, pleading to get back with her.

In one message on April 29, he said that if they didn’t get back together, “life wouldn’t be worth living.”

Dolan was given a community payback order at Perth Sheriff Court after he admitted the assault on the female in Blairgowrie on April 8 this year.

He also flouted bail orders dated April 10 and May 2, banning him from contacting her or entering Blairgowrie.

Depute fiscal Bill Kermode they had both been in the Crown Bar in Blairgowrie about 10pm on the Saturday night.

But she became annoyed after she thought another woman was “flirting” with him.

When they left the bar at 12.30am, he grabbed her right wrist and pulled her along Commercial Street.

She didn’t want to go but he then grabbed her by the neck and pinned her against a wall.

He then pulled her into Terminus Street.

When police traced Ms Leslie, she had grazing to her right forearm, scratches on the knuckles of her right hand, swelling to two of her fingers and a red mark on the side of her neck.

“She declined any medical attention,” added Mr Kermode.

Despite the bail orders in force, Dolan was found on one occasion in the bedroom of her house.

“On seeing the police, he started to cry and said he knew he shouldn’t be there,” explained the fiscal.

He then said he “loved” her and needed to sort things out.

A solicitor for the accused said another woman in the bar “seemed to take a shine” to the accused - and that caused some difficulty.

He had difficulty accepting that the relationship was over but claimed she had been giving out “conflicting signals.”

The lawyer added, however, that it had now ended.

Dolan, of Marryatt Terrace, Dundee, will have to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and will be tagged and restricted to his home from 7am-7pm for six weeks.

He was also given a 12-week jail sentence for ignoring one of the bail orders but that was backdated to May 8, when he was remanded, so has been served.

In addition, he will be supervised for nine months, with conditions that he doesn’t enter Blairgowrie or contact his ex-partner without prior approval from his supervising officer.