Banned for 15 years, brutal husband who broke his wife’s jaw
‘Drug and alcohol problems’
A HUSBAND has been banned from speaking to his wife for at least 15 years after knocking her out in front of her nine-yearold daughter.
James Christie was also jailed for 29 months after the girl and her mother reported the attack to police more than a decade later.
In one of the longest non-harassment orders ever imposed, he was banned from speaking to or going near his estranged wife, Caroline, until 2035.
Fiscal depute Saima Rasheed told Dundee Sheriff Court: ‘In 2006 they met and entered a relationship. Later they married and he moved in with her and her daughter.’
Describing the violent incident, Miss Rasheed said: ‘She and her daughter were in the bedroom with their dog. The accused entered after drinking and he was demanding to take the puppy.
‘He went to get the dog and the complainer told him to go to bed. He punched her on the face, causing her to lose consciousness, and she fell onto her daughter’s bed.
‘The accused removed the puppy and left the locus. The daughter was concerned for her mother, who was unconscious. ‘An ambulance attended.’ Mrs Christie was found to have sustained a broken jaw, eye socket and cheekbone and she had to be transferred to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee for emergency surgery.
Despite being left scarred for life, Mrs Christie never reported the attack to police and she carried on in the marriage for a further decade until May last year.
After they separated, Christie phoned her several times begging for her to take him back. However, when she turned him down he started issuing death threats.
Christie told his estranged wife that he was going to kill her and her parents, but her daughter used her mobile phone to record the stream of abusive calls.
The court was told that Christie shouted at her: ‘You’re dead next time I see you. I’m going to snap the dog’s neck.’
Mrs Christie was subsequently accompanied to the police station by her daughter, now aged 20, and they reported both the threats and the earlier attack to officers.
Christie, 34, of Aberfeldy, Perthshire, admitted assaulting and severely injuring his wife on February 21, 2009, by punching her and causing her to lose consciousness.
He also admitted calling her on December 6, 2019, and threatening to kill her and her parents.
Solicitor David Holmes, defending, said: ‘He very much enjoyed being in a relationship.
‘However, in the last couple of years he has been beset by drug and alcohol problems. He realises that his behaviour was entirely unacceptable. He had harboured hopes of a reconciliation. There will now be a divorce.’
Referring to Mrs Christie, he said: ‘She recognises that when her husband has taken alcohol or drugs his behaviour was radically different to when he was not intoxicated.’
Sheriff Alasdair Carmichael said: ‘There is no option but a custodial sentence due to the seriousness of the charges and to express the public’s disapproval of anyone behaving this way.’
He also imposed a non-harassment order on Christie for 15 years, preventing him from approaching or contacting his estranged wife until 2035 at the earliest.