Hotel attack on Valentine’s Day

Bust-up in bedroom led to arrest

A romantic St Valentine’s Day stay in a Kinross hotel exploded in violence when a Turkish national carried out a sustained attack on his partner.

During a drink-fuelled argument, 43-year-old Turkish barber Onur Cocon pushed Mairead Murphy to the ground in the Green Hotel before kicking her several times to the body.

“She was screaming at the accused to stop,” depute fiscal Carol Whyte told Perth Sheriff Court.

“She managed to stand up but he slapped her several times as she covered her head with her hands.

“The complainer then ran to the bathroom and locked herself in before running from the hotel bedroom in a distressed state.”

With the help of a resident in an adjoining room, the frightened woman was helped to the reception area.

Ms Murphy told the receptionist: “My partner battered me. Can you help me?”

The employee dialled 999 and the police were quickly on the scene.

The woman’s injuries included bruising to her left upper arm, grazing to the same arm, as well as pains in her thigh and buttocks area.

But she declined medical attention, the fiscal told the court.

The pair had been described as being in an “on-off relationship” for four years.

Police could see “signs of a disturbance” in the room – a smashed glass and blood on a pillowcase.

Cocon, of Glenlyon Road, Leven, had his sentence deferred until January 23 and he was ordered to be of good behaviour until then.

He admitted the assault on his partner which took place at the Green Hotel, The Muirs, Kinross, on February 13 or 14, 2018.

Solicitor John McLaughlin , for the accused, said: “They had certainly taken a significant amount to drink when an argument blew up.”

When police arrived they could see that the accused’s shirt had “burst open” but he accepted he shouldn’t have reacted in the way he did.

The lawyer told the court his client would “like” to resume the relationship.

Sheriff William Wood told Cocon: “It seems to me you may well have a troublesome relationship with alcohol.

“Clearly this is something you are going to have to address.”

The sheriff said he would consider imposing a Community Payback Order, as a direct alternative to a jail term, when the accused returns to court.