Lout lashed out when cops arrived

A woman took refuge in her car when her boyfriend refused to stop drinking.

Tawanda Jamela continued to down rum late into the night, despite his partner’s pleas for him to stop.

Paisley Sheriff Court heard this week that the couple had been in a relationship for two years and lived together in the town’s Morven Drive, when 28-year-old Jamela went on a bender.

After he bought another bottle of booze, the woman ended up sitting in her car crying for two hours.

She subsequently went to bed, but at 5am he went into the room in a drunken state and woke her up.

She went to the kitchen for a glass of water and he followed her, blocking her from leaving.

Depute fiscal Margaret McCallum told the court: “She felt intimidated and, fearing it might escalate, contacted police, but he grabbed the mobile phone from her while she was making the call and the 999 operator heard her screaming.”

When officers arrived they could hear raised voices coming from the house.

Jamela was aggressive and warned on a number of occasions about his conduct before being arrested.

The court heard that after making an appearance in court, he was released on bail with conditions in place preventing him from making contact the woman or returning to the property.

However, he ignored the order and went straight there on his release.

Police, who called to inform his partner of the bail conditions, were surprised to find her in a nervous and flustered state.

On investigating further, they found him hiding underneath a bed and he was arrested again.

After pleading guilty on her client’s behalf, defence agent Rhona Lynch explained that Jamela deeply regretted his conduct, insisting that he had gone to the property to retrieve his work clothes and belongings.

She said that his partner suffers from complex health issues, including anxiety, and the bail conditions originally put in place were eventually relaxed when she revealed that she needed Jamela’s support on a daily basis.

They were, said the lawyer, “a very close couple,” and on the night in question she had become very concerned about his drinking.

Jamela lost his job as a result of what happened, but has since found another employment opportunity.

He accepted he would benefit from a level of support for alcohol issues.

Sheriff Colin Pettigrew said he was very concerned about the nature of the bail breach which could only be seen as “a serious aggravation”.

He made the accused the subject of a Community Payback Order for that charge, requiring him to attend for any alcohol counselling and support felt necessary and accept supervision.

Jamela had sentence deferred on the other complaint for a six-month period to allow the sheriff to monitor his progress and see that he had stayed out of trouble.

He was ordered to return to court for final disposal on November 16.

He grabbed the phone ... the 999 operator heard her screaming