A Kirkcaldy thug who brutally battered his ex-partner will have to wait another month before finding out his fate.
Daryl Stewart had been told “it is difficult to imagine” a sentence other than prison time by Sheriff James Williamson, who deferred sentencing again this week.
Stewart assaulted his then-partner in the middle of the road as neighbours watched in horror.
In July, Depute Fiscal Ron Hay explained Stewart had arrived at the woman’s home on Cook Street, Kirkcaldy at around 9pm on February 20, having consumed alcohol and Valium.
Row in street
He was acting “belligerently” and went to visit a house across the road in the early hours of the morning.
He was refused access and began to cause a row.
Mr Hay told Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court: “The complainer left her own property and tried to calm the accused down.”
Stewart punched her in the face, kicked her head and stamped on her head at least twice.
Police were contacted and officers found the woman bleeding, lying on the pavement.
As her nose and lips were swollen from the attack, she was taken to hospital.
She also suffered swelling and bruising to her right eye.
Police threats
When Stewart was arrested, he told officers “I will shoot you”.
Mr Hay told the court the 31-year-old said: “The first petrol bomb I get is going to the police station.”
Stewart, of Cross Street, Kirkcaldy, admitted to assault and threatening police with violence.
He also threatened to shoot one of his victim’s family members in the face with a crossbow.
This week, Stewart’s defence solicitor Scott McKenzie said: “His feelings towards the offences are regret and sorrow.
“He accepts she was the victim of how he behaved.”
Prison warning
Last month, Sheriff James Williamson told Stewart, who has never served a custodial sentence before: “This is truly appalling behaviour.
“It is difficult to imagine a sentence other than a custodial one.”
On Tuesday, the sheriff added: “This is an appalling attack, an appalling sustained attack.”
Stewart, of West March Street, was released on bail and is due back in court for sentencing on September 13.
He was issued with a five-year non-harassment order when he pled guilty and told not to contact his former partner for five years.
