30 YEARS IN MARRIAGE FROM HELL
Wife suffered decades of horrific abuse by religious husband who told police she’d vowed ‘to obey’ him
A CHURCH-going husband forced his wife to keep a ‘mistake book’ and cut her days into 15-minute slots for tasks during a 30-year campaign of ‘cult-like’ physical and mental torture. Robert Simmons hosed his wife down with cold water in an outhouse, beat her on the legs with a pipe and made her keep a journal listing all the times she had angered him.
A court heard how the 62-year-old used religion to justify his abuse and even told police that his spouse had taken a vow of obedience when they got married.
Despite the severity of his crimes, Simmons faces being handed a maximum prison term of only five years when he returns for sentencing next month, sparking calls for his case to be remitted to the
High Court. Last night, Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘This is about as horrific a case of enduring domestic abuse as you’re likely to get.
‘If we’re to be truly serious about getting tough on domestic abuse, cases like this should be heard in the highest court in the land.’
Earlier this week, Lerwick Sheriff Court, Shetland, heard how Simmons drew up daily timetables of tasks for his wife, divided into 15-minute slots, and punished her if she failed to follow them.
Her torment only ended when she summoned the courage to contact a local Women’s Aid group in 2015.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said the couple had been together for more than 33 years and had six children, who were home-schooled and had very little contact with anyone outside the family.
He added that Simmons was the ‘authority in the family’ who set the rules, but these frequently changed.
The abuser controlled how his wife spent her days and forced her to carry notebooks, including a ‘mistake book’, to-do lists and a ‘making progress’ journal.
Mr Mackenzie said police seized hundreds of such notebooks from the family home at Sandness, Shetland, after the arrest.
Simmons admitted ten assault charges and one charge of threatening and abusive behaviour carried out between 1988 and March this year.
These included striking his wife on the head on Christmas Eve 1988 as a punishment for using raw eggs as she baked a cake.
He also admitted that on numerous occasions between January 1990 and December 1999 he made his wife stand in an outbuilding and doused her with cold water from a hose for an ‘extended period of time’.
In another incident he forced the woman into the boot of a car and on one occasion he compressed her throat to the point where she was struggling to breathe.
He also confessed to throwing her to the ground, causing nerve damage to her back. In addition, Simmons made his victim lie down on the floor before standing on her head, leaving her with two black eyes.
He also admitted hitting her on the back of her legs with a plastic pipe while she was washing dishes.
And on various occasions between January 2014 and March this year, he shouted, swore and made threats to her.
When detained and interviewed by police, Simmons told officers: ‘When we got married, she took a vow of obedience to me.’
The court heard that the abuse had ‘completely eroded the complainer’s sense of self-worth’ and Mr Mackenzie said it was ‘one of the worst cases of domestic abuse’ he had ever dealt with.
Sheriff Philip Mann deferred sentence for background reports but told Simmons to expect a custodial term. However, the sheriff can impose a maximum sentence of only five years.
Conservative MSP Mr Kerr said that cases of this kind should be heard at the country’s highest court to ‘send an unequivocal message about just how unacceptable it is to embark on this kind of behaviour’.
He added: ‘We must not forget the victims in this matter. This horrific treatment must have left scars on her, the six children and perhaps beyond.
‘The system must work with them to ensure it does everything possible to try to mitigate the impact of such appalling abuse.’ A spokesman for Women’s Aid said after the hearing that the victim ‘hopes her story of escape from domestic abuse will encourage other people who are subject to abuse to get help and take control of the situation’.
Simmons’ defence agent, Tommy Allan, did not make any representations during the court hearing but is due to speak on behalf of his client at sentencing next month.
Sheriff Mann extended bail and continued Mr Mackenzie’s motion for an indefinite non-harassment order to be imposed against Simmons.
A spokesman for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: ‘We take a rigorous approach to crimes of domestic abuse and we are committed to prosecuting crimes of domestic abuse effectively and appropriately.
‘Decisions to prosecute on indictment, including the court in which proceedings should be taken, are made by Crown Counsel after full and careful consideration of all the evidence and circumstances in each case.’