Ex-soldier with PTSD attacked wife
A former soldier with undiagnosed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder attacked and threatened his wife at their Stirling home.
Dad-of-three Samuel Neilson was this week admonished on charges of assaulting his wife Cheryl and behaving in a threatening and abusive manner towards her in March this year.
He had pleaded guilty to the charges at a previous hearing at Stirling Sheriff Court.
The fiscal depute told the court on Thursday the accused was within a bedroom at his home with Cheryl Neilson.
There had been an argument about text messages the accused had sent to another woman.
The accused became defensive and started to shout and swear towards his partner.
He shouted:“You are a f ****** liar. I f ****** hate you.”
Mrs Neilson ran out the bedroom and went downstairs followed by the accused who continued to shout and swear at her.
He tried to punch her to the face several times, stopping only inches away, in an attempt to intimidate her before banging and smashing several items within the house.
Mrs Neilson gave her husband back his phone to calm him down, but he continued to shout and swear.
The 42-year-old accused went into the kitchen where he continued to shout and swear and act aggressively.
Neilson then went out the front door and started kicking the front door, kicking it off its hinges, before driving off. Police were contacted. However, at 6pm he handed himself into police.
His agent told Sheriff Wyllie Robertson last Thursday that Neilson had been in Forth Valley Hospital on two separate occasions in November.
His condition was later diagnosed as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
The lawyer also pointed out he was due to attend a seven-week residential course in Ayrshire for veterans.
She told the court her client had been in the Army for 25 years and had served in a number of war zones including Iraq and Afghanistan.
He had been a reservist instructor from 2014 to 2016 and had been awarded the Military Cross and long-service award.
Neilson, she said, had previously been of good character and there was nothing else outstanding. While the couple had been living separately, they had recently been on talking terms and hoped to reconcile.
The solicitor also pointed out that Neilson had started to train again and planned to run from John O’Groats to Lands End and back with three other veterans to raise money for Cancer Research.
Sheriff Robertson told Neilson he did not see any merit in deferring sentence for a time or imposing a community payback order as suggested in a report prepared for the court.
He told Neilson:“This is clearly something out of character, borne out of difficulty in the transition from the army to civilian life.
“You clearly have given service for a long number of years in stressful situations. It obviously has impacted on your behaviour.”
Mrs Levey had three children – Colin (39), Ruaraidh (35) and Susan (33) – as well as the five grandchildren on whom she doted.
She worked as a support for learning assistant at Wallace High, Stirling, from 2006 until 2014 when she suffered a severe stroke which left her partially paralysed.
Distraught daughter, Susan Walmsley, said: “She was my best pal. It’s been extremely difficult.
“She loved all of her grandchildren. The kids are all very sore about it. We still had our Christmas, but if it wasn’t for the kids I don’t think I would have had the strength to have done anything for it.
“For the first couple of nights after it all happened one of my young ones slept with me because they were so upset.
“We were very close to my mum, more so since she took her stoke. I would go and do her shopping for her and I would spend a lot of time with her because she really couldn’t get about. She had the carers who would come and tend to her a couple of times a day but I would go and sit with her and do little things for her. I’ll really miss her.”
Susan added: “She was a great cook. She taught me a lot and she also baked too.
“She just loved being in the kitchen, busy making delicious food.
“She was also a very talented artist and she went to Aberdeen School of Art and continued to enjoy art all her life.”
Mrs Levey’s son, Colin, added: “We’ve had a wee bit of a distraction with Christmas, but it has been a difficult time for us all.
“She was always loving and caring and she would do absolutely anything for her kids and grandkids.
“She even loved our friends and would laugh and joke around with them too. She had a really great sense of humour.
“She used to work in Tesco in Wallace Street and there were ones in there who would joke around that she was their ‘Tesco mum’.
“She was much loved. She had lots of friends across the Stirling area who will be sad.”
A report on the fire will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal.
Mrs Levey’s late husband, Jeff, also passed away in tragic circumstances in 2010 when he fell into the path of a lorry on Back O’ Hill Road, Stirling.