A Perth mechanic who almost killed his partner more than once during a campaign of cocaine-fuelled assaults has been jailed for five years.
Michael Wilkie will spend the first two years after he is released from prison under licence after assaulting his former partner three times between Christmas 2018 and February 2020.
Also prohibiting Wilkie from contacting his ex-girlfriend for six years, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis told the 29-year-old, who appeared at Perth Sheriff Court by video link, sentencing could have been passed up to High Court judges had he not pleaded guilty when he did.
Christmas Day assault
Wilkie, of Allison Crescent, had been in a relationship with the woman from late 2017.
His first assault on her took place at his home on Christmas Day, 2018 when the two returned home after consuming alcohol and recreational drugs.
Wilkie’s partner overdosed on prescription medication after he briefly left – taking 20 times as many tablets as she was supposed to – and began hallucinating.
Instead of helping her when he returned, Wilkie brutally attacked her.
He threw her against a wall before she landed in a recycling crate.
She got up and staggered through to the bedroom where she lay down but Wilkie sat on her, placing his hands on her throat and squeezing.
The woman was left with bruising on her neck and Wilkie admitted his assault put his then-partner’s life at risk.
Roadside rage
Wilkie unleashed a second attack on the woman in a layby on the A9 after their car ran out of fuel.
Perth Sheriff Court heard the couple had been for a day out at the beach at lochside hamlet Kinlochlaggan on August 21, 2019.
Their car ground to a halt on the A9 near Dalwhinnie.
Wilkie’s partner phoned for a friend to bring them some fuel but he grabbed her by the head and headbutted her cheekbone.
He then took hold of her neck and squeezed to the point the woman was “struggling to breathe” and feared she would pass out.
After crawling from the vehicle, she was left with grazed arms and legs.
Wilkie got out and dragged her across the layby, before stamping on her chest.
Rescued by passers-by
As he attacked her, the woman managed to make three short calls to the same friend, who could hear shouting.
The woman managed to climb up and locked herself in the car.
Wilkie began threatening to kill her and said he would throw her under the next car that passed but eventually left.
Two men, who remain untraced, appeared in the layby and comforted the woman until her mother arrived from Perth.
Police traced Wilkie a short distance away but as no crime had been reported at this point, dropped him off at his home.
He admitted that while on the A9 near Dalwhinnie, he again put the woman’s life in danger, as well as making threats to kill her.
Birthday attack
Wilkie’s third assault on the woman came in the early hours of February 2 last year at a flat in Perth city centre.
After a night drinking and celebrating a family member’s birthday, the pair had been walking along South Street.
Upon noticing Wilkie was no longer with him, the woman phoned her then-partner.
This angered Wilkie and the pair went into a flat on adjacent King Edward Street.
Wilkie “squared up” to the woman and pushed her against a wall.
She pushed him away but he grabbed a beer bottle and threw it, striking her on the head.
Wilkie pushed her to the ground, banging her head on a futon.
Throughout his continued attack, he repeatedly seize her by the throat, restricting her breathing.
He grabbed a purple candle ornament and threw it at her, also striking her head.
Finally caught by police
Witnesses in an adjoining flat could her her shouting “stop” and “get away.”
She eventually managed to knock on their door and was taken in by the residents, who phoned police.
Officers attended and found her to have a number of cuts, swelling to her left eye and mouth, a bleeding nose and red marks on her neck.
Police found Wilkie in the common close.
She was taken to Perth Royal Infirmary’s A&E department at 3am with cuts and bruises.
He admitted “severely injuring” the woman and again, endangering her life.
Cocaine to blame
Wilkie’s defence solicitor Pauline Cullerton explained alcohol and illicit substances had been a “clear theme” in many of her client’s actions.
Sheriff Foulis noted Wilkie’s only previous conviction was for an assault in 2008 which resulted in a £100 fine.
The sheriff said the Christmas attack was “in a different league.”
Mrs Cullerton explained that during the A9 incident, Wilkie was suffering from cocaine withdrawals.
“He lost control,” she added.
She said: “In his own words, he’s sickened by his actions.
“He does not accept that there are any undiagnosed personality disorders.
“He accepts custody is inevitable.”
Sheriff Foulis handed Wilkie the maximum period of imprisonment available to him.
He said: “This is an appalling catalogue of offending of a domestic nature.”
