Handyman jailed after trying to throttle victim

Ahandyman who went to a woman’s Fife home to hang wallpaper was jailed for four years for carrying out a lifethreatening attack on her.

Lawrence Brolly, 67, put a cushion over his victim’s face and throttled her.

Kimberly Wilson told the High Court in Edinburgh: “I think what he was trying to do was suffocate me.

“He was squeezing my windpipe so much I couldn’t speak.”

Brolly had denied attempting to murder Miss Wilson during an earlier trial but was convicted of the lesser offence of assaulting her to her injury and the danger of her life in the attack at Tuke Street, Dunfermline, on January 4 last year, under provocation.

During the attack he seized her by the hair, pushed and pulled her, struggled with her and placed a cushion over her face and compressed her neck, restricting her breathing.

Judge Lord Boyd of Duncansby, told Brolly, who is in Perth Prison: “It is clear this was not a shortlived event.

“The evidence of downstairs’ neighbours was that the altercation between you lasted a considerable amount of time.”

Witnesses heard banging, screaming and shouting coming from the premises during the assault.

The judge said the victim managed to make 999 calls and said she thought Brolly was going to kill her.

A police officer who found Miss Wilson spoke of her difficulty breathing and her profound distress.

He said Brolly had used “extreme violence” against his victim and his criminal record included two previous convictions for assault to danger of life.

The judge said he had been assessed as being of maximum risk of reoffending.

Lord Boyd ordered, because of the threat he posed to the public, that Brolly should be kept under supervision for a further four years.

He said he would limit the custodial part of Brolly’s sentence because of the provocation and injuries he suffered after he was struck with a glass.

Miss Wilson, 36, said on the day of the attack Brolly visited her home to help with decorating. She said Brolly, known as Paddy, brought a bottle of vodka with him and began drinking.

She said the mood was fine to begin with and added: “He had just put the last of the wallpaper up.”

But she said that changed and Brolly grabbed her by the hair. “He put his two hands on my hair and started pulling me about the living room,” she said.

She said she picked up a glass item and started to hit him.

“He still had a hold of my hair with one hand and he was trying to put a cushion into my face.

“He tried to squeeze it into my face.”

She said she tried to run from the living room and made an emergency call but Brolly put both hands around her throat and was compressing it.

She told advocate depute Craig Murray: “I think I sort of blacked out a little bit because of the squeezing of my throat.

“I thought, pretty much, that he was going to kill me.”

During questioning by defence solicitor advocate Gordon Martin, she denied she had attacked Brolly.

Mr Martin said Brolly’s actions had been “clearly excessive” in the circumstances, following a dispute over money.

He said the former miner and joiner had a problem with drink at one stage in life. The defence lawyer said Brolly’s record of offending was “somewhat unusual” as he only began committing crimes when he was aged about 45.