Black belt thug who beat up girlfriend avoids jail... so brother can keep job
A MARTIAL arts expert who violently attacked his girlfriend and her disabled mother was yesterday spared jail.
Steven Forrest – a black belt in Taekwondo – had been facing up to five years behind bars f or attacking Amanda Norwood and her 63-year-old mother Margaret McAslan.
But he was handed a community payback order when he appeared at Paisley Sheriff Court after the court heard that jailing him would cost his brother his job, as he is employed by Forrest.
The soft-touch sentence undermines the high-profile drive by police and ministers against domestic abuse.
Scottish Tory chief whip John Lamont said: ‘This was an extremely violent case and the verdict sends out entirely the wrong message.
‘A tougher punishment may have deterred Steven Forrest and others from committing crime in the future.’
At an earlier court hearing, fiscal depute Alan Parfery told the court 42-year-old Forrest threw Miss Norwood to the ground and pulled Miss McAslan out of a car in the early hours of October 19 last year in Newton Mearns, Renfrewshire.
Forrest, of Newton Mearns, then launched into the unprovoked attacks, kicking and stamping on the slightly-built women.
Mr Parfery said: ‘He grabbed hold of the mother and threw her to the ground. The daughter was punched in the face, causing her to fall.
‘The accused repeatedly kicked the daughter on the head and body while she was lying on the ground. Then he approached the mother and kicked her on the head.
‘He went back to the daughter, lying in the foetal position, and stamped on her head to such a degree that a witness observed one of his heels coming off his shoe.’
The emergency services were con- tacted, while neighbours ran to the aid of the women.
When police arrived, officers saw Miss Norwood lying motionless on the ground. She had a cut to her scalp and bruising on her eye, chest and spine.
Miss McAslan had bruising to her neck and back and a swollen forehead and was taken to hospital for a CT scan as a precaution.
Forrest’s attacks were so brutal that when he appeared in the dock last month he was charged with assaulting both women to the danger of their lives. He pleaded guilty to two reduced charges of assaulting them to their injury.
Sheriff Seith Ireland had called for Forrest to be assessed by social workers. And when Forrest returned to the dock yesterday, he was spared jail.
Defence solicitor Calum Weir said Forrest was an alcoholic and added that locking up Forrest would cost his brother, whom he employs as a labourer with his electrical firm, his job. He said Miss Norwood had written a letter blaming herself.
Sheriff Ireland ordered Forrest to carry out 260 hours’ unpaid work over 12 months and told him he would be supervised by social workers for 18 months. The sheriff said: ‘I am just persuaded that custody can be avoided.’