Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Bully inflicted years of abuse on his partners
A CONTROLLING bully who bit and spat on his victims during a campaign of “horrific domestic abuse” has been jailed for 44 months.
Sean Rooney was branded a continuing danger to women and was banned from contacting either of his victims for 25 years.
Rooney is also forbidden from forming any new relationship with a woman without informing social workers he plans to do so.
Dundee Sheriff Court was told he throttled one woman in front of an eight-year-old child who was screaming at him to stop.
Sheriff Paul Brown said: “Your behaviour was utterly reprehensible.
“You have shown little insight and no significant degree of remorse.
“You have even sought to blame your victims.
“This was horrific domestic abuse.
“A lengthy custodial sentence must follow.
“A very serious aggravating factor is the perpetrating of this in front of an eight-year-old child, while that child was pleading for you to stop.
“You have been identified as someone who presents a high risk of intimate partner violence of a serious nature.
“It is clear it is necessary to protect the public from serious harm by imposing a supervised release order.”
The sheriff said Rooney must “immediately” inform his supervising officer if he forms a “friendship, association or intimate relationship”.
He must also report if he meets any female on “two or more occasions” or if the woman visits his home “more than once.”
Rooney, 30, from Arbroath, admitted engaging in a course of coercive bullying against one woman for 20 months until December 23 2020.
He told her to kill herself, bombarded her with abusive messages and lunged at her, before compressing her neck.
The serial offender threw a lit cigarette in her face and spat at her.
Between December 1 2020 and July 3 2021 he subjected another partner to controlling and violent abuse at her Arbroath home.
He repeatedly threw lit cigarettes at her and spat on her, slapped, pushed and pulled her hair, told her he would kill her and said she should commit suicide.
Rooney pinned her to the ground and punched her and held his hands over her mouth so she was unable to shout for help.
He admitted throttling her to the danger of her life.
He dragged her out of bed by her ankles and chased her into the street before hurling her phone away so she was unable to call the police for help.
Depute fiscal Stewart Duncan told Dundee Sheriff Court Rooney and the first woman had been in an on-off relationship for around four years.
“He was very controlling towards her throughout.
“He would sometimes tell her she should kill herself as no-one would miss her.”
Among the hundreds of text and messages he sent, Rooney said: “So... if I strangle you – big deal. You’re no dead, are you?
“You’re really gonna see the worst of me today, you little boot.
“Just kill yourself. Do the world a favour.
“I’m telling you to go swing from a tree.”
When he was attacking his second victim by raining blows on her, a nearby child heard her screaming and bravely told Rooney to stop what he was doing.
Rooney bit his victim on the arms and left her badly bruised.
Rooney, who also admitted driving while banned for a seventh time, was disqualified for six years and four months and made subject to two months supervised release.