A domestic abuser who was banned from contacting his victim for half a decade after plunging a kitchen knife through her bathroom door has been sentenced for a string of breaches.
Wayne Clark was banned from contacting his wife in June 2022 after stabbing a hole in the door in a horrifying Shining-style attack while she cowered inside.
He has now admitted sending a string of Whatsapp messages to her just two months into the five-year order.
Clark was also caught by police inside her Arbroath home in November – another breach of the non-harassment order.
At Forfar Sheriff Court, he was sentenced to a 60-day restriction of liberty order, keeping him indoors between 7pm and 7am.
However, the order will be relaxed until 9pm on Tuesdays to allow Clark to continue to attend swimming classes at Aberdeen Aquatics Centre, which are deemed therapeutic for his muscular dystrophy.
A fresh non-harassment order was made, banning Clark from entering the woman’s new home in Ness Drive, Arbroath, for four years.
The previously-made order remains in place.
Sheriff Krista Johnston told him: “I have to be mindful of what’s really a terrible record you have in respect of domestic matters and in terms of breaching court orders.”
Knife attack
Clark was sentenced at Aberdeen Sheriff Court in June after plunging a knife through the bathroom door and battering it with his hand.
He also threw dinner plates and a glass at the woman and fell out of his wheelchair in the course of a struggle.
The 55-year-old of Powis Place, Aberdeen was ordered to be supervised for two years and to complete the Caledonian Programme as an alternative to a custodial sentence.
Clark had pled guilty to two domestic charges of assault to injury, a separate charge of assault, two charges of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner and three breaches of bail orders.
Non-harassment breaches
This week, Forfar Sheriff Court court heard his domestic victim received a message on Whatsapp on August 19, asking how she was.
The order banned all contact except that relating to childcare.
She requested he not send any more messages but the next day, Clark again asked how she was. She did not reply.
Another message was sent on August 23. This was shown to a social worker.
On the morning of November 23, police were tipped off by social workers Clark was with the woman in Arbroath.
Officers received another call later in the morning and attended the property and found Clark at the top of the stairs.
Bathroom knife incident
Fiscal depute Tom Proctor told the court in Aberdeen in June that between March 24 and May 15 this year Clark carried out a series of violent attacks upon his former partner at an address in Bridge of Don, Aberdeen.
He said Clark challenged the woman after becoming suspicious she was having an affair.
Mr Proctor said: “He began shouting and, as she ran to the bathroom, he punched her to the face, causing her nose to bleed.
“She then locked herself in the bathroom.
“The accused took possession of a large kitchen knife and stabbed a large hole in the door, which caused damage to the bathroom door.”
During a call to police, a handler reported hearing Clark state that he was going to “kill” the woman.
When officers turned up at the address they saw the damage to the bathroom door and assumed it had been done with a hammer but Clark said it had been done with a knife.
For the latest court cases across Tayside and Fife, join our Courts Facebook page.