A Fife man who stabbed his heavily pregnant girlfriend, causing her to lose their unborn twins, broke a 999-year court order by repeatedly phoning her from prison.
Stephen Ramsay was jailed in 2020 after he admitted attempting to murder his partner Lisa Donaldson at their home in Glenrothes.
He was caged for five years but made subject to an Order for Lifelong Restriction, meaning he will only be freed if considered no longer a danger.
This week, the 39-year-old returned to the dock and admitted breaching a lifelong non-harassment order, banning him from contacting his victim.
The order was formally set to last 999 years.
Perth Sheriff Court heard Ramsay made more than two dozen phone calls to Ms Donaldson in the space of a month.
His sentence was extended by 27 months.
Phone check
Fiscal depute Joanne Ritchie told the court: “The accused has 92 convictions for a wide variety of offences.
“These include, most recently, attempted murder which was committed against Lisa Donaldson.
“A non-harassment order was imposed with the specific condition that he does not contact or attempt to contact Ms Donaldson for life.”
Ms Ritchie said: “Between October 28 and November 25 2020, a random check of the accused’s telephone calls was carried out by the Scottish Prison Service.
“It was ascertained that the accused had called Ms Donaldson’s mobile number 26 times.
“Some of the calls were only seconds long and were not answered.
“However, a number of calls were answered by Ms Donaldson and she and the accused engaged in conversation.”
The fiscal depute said: “Ms Donaldson did not seem to be distressed by the call.
“They stated in the conversation that they loved each other.”
‘Have a nice day’
Solicitor Billy Watt, defending, said: “Mr Ramsay accepts that he was subject to this order and he should not have been contacting Ms Donaldson.
“He has tendered a plea of guilty because he doesn’t want to waste any of the court’s time or put Ms Donaldson through the stress of coming to court.”
Sheriff William Wood told Ramsay: “The real difficulty for the court in a case like this, is that the breach of this order comes on the heels of your conviction for one of the most serious offences that you could have perpetrated against Ms Donaldson.
“That is the prism I need to view this.
“Ms Donaldson may not have given any indication of being distressed by your calls but nevertheless, the court has to take a very dim view of this and only a custodial sentence is appropriate.”
The 27 month jail time will begin after Ramsay has served the punitive five year part of his original sentence.
As he was led back to prison, Ramsay told the court: “Thank you very much. Have a nice day.”
Fake beggar
The High Court in Aberdeen heard how Ramsay launched a “frenzied” attack on Ms Donaldson in February 2019, after wrongly accusing her of taking money he had obtained by posing as a homeless beggar on the streets of Edinburgh.
Police kicked in the door of the couple’s Delgatie Court property after being called by a neighbour.
They found Ms Donaldson, with her throat cut and Ramsay continuing to throttle her.
Although she survived, the 32-week-old twins, delivered by emergency Cesarean section, passed away because they were deprived of blood.
Ramsay, listed as a prisoner in Perth, admitted attempting to kill his partner, knowing she was pregnant.
Lord Kinclaven told him: “This was an offence of the utmost seriousness and the utmost gravity… which caused the death of two 32-week-old unborn babies.”
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