A raging domestic abuser killed three kittens and battered a woman at her St Andrews home after a night out in Dundee.
Kenneth Solway, 26, repeatedly punched and kicked his victim in the head, before she fled to a neighbour’s house by jumping out a window.
After police turned up and arrested Solway, the woman was taken back to her home, where the dead cats were found.
A court document said a small ginger kitten was found dead behind the front door.
Police searched the rest of the property and found another deceased kitten on the living room floor with traces of blood on its front paws and around the nose and mouth.
A third kitten was found dead in a bedroom below a broken window.
A post-mortem examination was carried out on one of the kittens and causes of death were noted as brain trauma and skull fracture.
Dead kittens found after assault
Solway and the woman had earlier been on a night out in Dundee and began arguing in a taxi back to St Andrews.
He left the cab and got another one at Forgan Roundabout, by the A92, later arriving at her home after her.
Solway was described as being agitated and “shouting in a fit of rage” towards the woman.
The court document states he then grabbed her by the ankles, pulled her onto the floor, and repeatedly punched and kicked her on the head and body.
It states: “(The woman) managed to leave the property by jumping out of a window and thereafter ran as fast as she could to seek help at a neighbour.”
The woman reported the assault to police at around 4.30am.
Officers attended and found intoxicated Solway in a nearby street with blood on his shirt and a cut knuckle and he was arrested.
When police entered the woman’s home, they found all of the rooms had been trashed, with numerous items of furniture and windows broken.
The dead cats were also discovered.
Guilty pleas
Solway, of Garden Court, Townhill, Dunfermline, appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court for sentencing after earlier pleading guilty to the domestically-aggravated offences of assault and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
On January 21 last year he shouted, swore and made derogatory comments to the woman, damaged household items, smashed windows, made threats of violence and killed three cats.
He admitted assaulting the woman by grabbing her by the ankles, pulling her onto the floor, and repeatedly punching and kicking her on the head and body.
Solway also previously pled guilty to a summary charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner on January 18 last year by making threats of violence and threats to cause damage to property.
The court heard this related to a conversation during a phone call with the same woman.
‘Greater good’ not to send accused to prison
Defence lawyer David Cranston the indictment offences were committed without any planning because of his state of intoxication.
Mr Cranston said: “The way in which he reacted to a stressful situation arising in his relationship, probably in large part because of the way he was brought up, was to overreact and behave extremely badly.”
The solicitor said Solway, who has offended on seven previous occasions, suffered trauma as a child, which affected his behaviour in his teens and early 20s.
He said his client wants the chance to undertake the Caledonian Men’s programme to address domestic offending and to break the cycle of offending and imprisonment.
Mr Cranston said Solway, now has a five-year old German shepherd rescue dog, has “tried to change his ways” since these crimes were committed and thinks he would benefit greatly from social work intervention for “the greater good”.
He said Solway has been working, most recently with a bus builders in Dunfermline, but is currently recovering from an injury.
The lawyer said: “So, by avoiding alcohol and drugs and having got himself a dog and kept himself employed, he has been able to stay out of trouble and enjoyed two years of liberty; probably the longest time at liberty since the age of 17.”
Sentencing
Sheriff Steven Borthwick told Solway: “The offences to which you pled guilty were utterly appalling, you have a bad record.
The sheriff sentenced Solway to 180 hours of unpaid work and offender supervision as part of a two-year community payback order.
He must undertake the Caledonian Men’s programme and to live in accommodation approved by his supervising officer and inform them of any new intimate relationships.
He was banned from contacting the woman for two years.
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