A violent bully from Dundee abducted and throttled a woman during sustained campaigns of domestic abuse.
Jamie McGrath had controlled and mocked his victims and subjected them to coercive behaviour for two years, a court was told.
McGrath had banned one of his victims from showing off her tattoos because he felt they made her look “too good” to other men.
He held one victim hostage in her home over a weekend and punched her in the face every time she took a phone call from a friend or member of her family.
Abduction, assault and coercion
McGrath, 34, admitted abducting the first woman from January 5 to 8 2019 and kicking her, straddling her and throttling her to restrict her breathing.
He admitted that, between February 9 and 28 2019, he assaulted her by dragging her downstairs, straddling her, seizing her throat and restricting her breathing.
McGrath further pled guilty to engaging in a course of coercive and controlling behaviour towards the same woman in Dundee between April 1 2019 and Christmas Day 2020.
Finally, he admitted that between August 1 2019 and February 17 2020, he engaged in a course of coercive and controlling behaviour towards a second woman.
He admitted isolating her from her family and friends, controlling how and when she bathed, restricted her medication and stopped her attending appointments.
He also admitted taking a naked picture of her without her knowledge, refusing to delete it, and threatening to send it on to people she knew.
He repeatedly punched her head and body and refused to let her leave.
Fiscal depute Stewart Duncan told the court: “At the time of the offending he was on bail.
“He has previous convictions for domestic offending against both complainers and another victim.
“(Complainer 1) told the accused she was leaving.
“He jumped over the couch, ran down the hall and kicked her into the bedroom.
“She fell on the floor and he got on top and strangled her with both hands so she couldn’t breathe.”
Controlled woman’s life
Mr Duncan said: “He controlled every aspect of (her) life.
“He picked her clothes.
“When she started to get tattoos it made it worse.
“He said the tattoos made her look better and he didn’t want anyone to see.”
On one occasion, she had to jump over a fence and hide in bushes for 15 minutes to get away as McGrath and one of his friends tried to hunt her down.
Mr Duncan said McGrath was unhappy about what she wore on her birthday night out – because it showed her leg tattoo – so he punched her in the face.
Even after she “found the courage to end the relationship” in 2019, McGrath continued to bully her and forced her to flee from home in her pants on one occasion.
Second victim trapped in house
The court was told he was “extremely controlling” in his relationship with the second complainer and would not even let her have a bath on her own.
She was trapped in the house with McGrath and was too afraid to leave.
He answered her phone calls and would then punch her in the face because he was jealous.
Sheriff Paul Brown deferred sentence for reports and granted bail to McGrath.
The accused laughed and joked with friends outside the court after his release.
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