A violent and controlling boyfriend who claimed he was “trying to do his best for his partner” has been jailed for 20 months.
Techno DJ Steven Rose throttled his girlfriend and swung a baseball bat at her during a campaign of domestic cruelty that spanned more than a year.
Perth Sheriff Court heard he plagued her with phone calls, monitored her social media accounts and threatened to end their relationship if she went out with friends.
Rose, 44, returned to the dock for sentencing on Wednesday having previously admitted engaging in an abusive course of behaviour against his now ex at their home in Auchterarder, and elsewhere, between May 1 2019 and July 31 2020.
The court heard he believed he was trying to rescue his girlfriend from her pals.
Sheriff David Hall said: “This is almost classic self-denial, isn’t it?”
‘Fear and anxiety’
Fiscal depute Elizabeth Hodgson said the complainer “had hoped for a non-harassment order to be imposed for the maximum time”.
The prosecutor told the court: “She lives in an atmosphere of fear and anxiety, which has affected her mental health.
“She is terrified of the accused and is desperate for contact with him to cease.”
Solicitor John McLaughlin, defending, said his client had no issue with such an order and urged the court to consider a non-custodial sentence.
“His position is that he believed the friends she was with were not real friends and they were leading her down the wrong path to drink and drugs,” he said.
“But it has been explained to him that she is an adult and is entitled to make her own decisions.
“He accepts that he went too far.”
Mr McLaughlin added: “He thought he was trying to do his best for his partner, but clearly that view has not been shared.”
Sheriff Hall told Rose: “You pled guilty to a serious matter.
“The abuse you inflicted against your partner carried on for some 15 months and the account of what you did does not make for good reading.”
The sheriff added: “I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no alternative here to a custodial sentence.”
As well as jailing Rose for 20 months, the sheriff imposed a non-harassment order banning him from having any contact with his ex for three years.
Missed calls
The court heard how Rose, of Forth Avenue, Paisley, quizzed his then-girlfriend about her make-up when she came to collect him following a road crash.
He also threatened to send photos of her in a state of undress to police.
Fiscal depute Lora Apostolova previously told that Rose did not think his partner’s friends were “genuine”.
She spent most of her days in her bedroom and reduced the time she spent socialising.
On a trip to Clydebank with pals in 2020, the woman woke in her hotel room to see 10 missed calls and several messages from Rose.
“Because of his behaviour, she cut the trip short,” said Ms Apostolova.
“On the journey back, she felt like she was having a panic attack as she was concerned about how he would behave when she returned.”
The relationship ended when Rose physically assaulted his partner in July 2020.
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