Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
‘Skelly was a vile, disgusting brute’
A WOMAN who was the victim of a “vile brute” who subjected her and her three children to hundreds of beatings told the Tele today that he made her life hell.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, described James Skelly, 32, as “disgusting” and said he should never again be allowed near women and children.
At Dundee Sheriff Court, Skelly admitted a series of attacks on his victims.
The woman told how she only got help after locking herself in the bathroom and texting a desperate cry for help to her mum.
And she said that her life became a “nightmare” because she lived in constant fear of beatings from him.
Skelly brutally attacked the woman and three children over a period of 21 months.
In one attack, he threw one of the children against a wall so hard that the wall was damaged.
And in another, a child recalled being kicked in the body because the toilet was broken and kicked because of an issue in the garden.
Fiscal depute Kirsten Thomson told Dundee Sheriff Court that the incidents had happened hundreds of times.
Skelly was only caught after attacking the children’s mum — prompting her to beg her mother for help to get away from him.
The woman said: “I want people to know what kind of person he is.
“Skelly should never be allowed to be near women and children for the rest of his life.
“He made my life hell, a complete nightmare and I lived in constant fear.
“I was subjected to daily physical and mental abuse by him but didn’t know how to get away.
“He watched over me constantly — and it was almost impossible for me to get help.
“I bitterly regret knowing him and know now that he took complete advantage of me.
“I now feel I can finally breathe a sigh of relief knowing that he is very likely going to be jailed for what he did to me and to the children.
“I hope he is put away for a very long time.
“That way he will not be able to harm me or any more women and children ever again.
“He is a vile, disgusting person and I was very, very scared all the time because of him. I’m glad to hear that he is likely to face a significant jail sentence.”
His victim said she was finally able to get help by l ocking herself i n the bathroom and sending a desperate text message to her mum to get help.
She said: “He watched over me the whole time so I couldn’t get help but eventually I was able to send a message to my mum and she took it to a police station.
“She showed them my cries for help and police visited my home and that way Skelly was caught.”