A Fife man responsible for a “litany” of assaults against four ex-partners has been sentenced to four years and eight months behind bars.
Gary Hogg battered his first victim throughout her two pregnancies during a period of abuse which lasted a decade.
On one occasion he kicked the woman as she transported their one-week-old child in a carrycot. The attack caused her to drop the cot which then slid down some stairs.
Years later, Hogg punched, kicked and spat on another partner for supporting the opposing football team in a match they were watching.
During another incident, he pushed her on to a bed and seized and squeezed her throat.
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard that spending too much money on shopping and smoking the last cigarette were among his “reasons” for inflicting violence on some of the women.
Domestic abuse task force was alerted
Procurator fiscal depute Claire Bremner said that when Hogg’s most recent victim contacted police, the force’s domestic abuse task force got in touch with his previous partners.
The violence against his first victim took place between January 1991 and December 2000.
The fiscal depute said: “He assaulted the complainer throughout two pregnancies and she described the relationship as brutal… and she lived in complete fear of him.
“She would wear long sleeve tops and trousers to hide her injuries.”
Having initially been on bail, Sheriff Alastair Brown remanded Hogg after he pled guilty to the abuse on June 29 this year.
He was brought back to Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court from custody on Tuesday to be sentenced.
Sheriff Brown issued him with a six year-long extended sentence, four years and eight months of which will be spent in jail.
The maximum custodial sentence available to sheriffs is five years.
For the remaining year and four months of Hogg’s sentence, he will be on license in the community.
Foamed at the mouth
Court papers state all four of his former partners were subjected to assaults on various occasions and three of them were seized by the throat.
In August 2010, Hogg assaulted one woman by grabbing her throat, pushing her against a bedroom door and repeatedly punching her in the ribs.
The following year he followed this woman through the house and spat on her because she did not want to eat the breakfast he had made as it was too salty.
In October 2018 he tried to make a joke when they were in the car together outside a Poundstretcher in Leven and then punched her in the face.
The victim in this case suffered abuse between October 2009 and August 2019.
Hogg’s two other victims each suffered abuse for about a year in the 2000s.
One described Hogg as an “animal” who would foam at the mouth whenever he got angry.
Hogg’s lawyer, Kerr Sneddon, said his client was ashamed of himself.
