A Fife thug attacked three partners – including when two of the women were pregnant – and battered a man in the street with a golf club.
Gordon Gibson, 27, has been jailed for 43 months.
He throttled or suffocated two of the women and was seen dragging his third victim into a house by her hair.
He appeared from custody for sentencing at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court after earlier pleading guilty to seven charges spanning a period between November 2013 and May 2022.
The offending took place at addresses in Ballingry, Lochgelly, Lochore and Kelty.
Gibson admitted domestic assaults involving the three former partners, behaving in a threatening or abusive manner to one, breaching a bail condition not to contact another and assaulting a man.
Sheriff James Williamson told him: “This is a litany of outrageous domestic abuse which involves strangulation or suffocation, assault of pregnant women and assaults on women while protecting their children.
“In these circumstances there is only one appropriate sentence – a lengthy custodial one.”
The jail sentence will run consecutively to an existing one, which had an earliest release date of July next year.
Gibson was also given a 12-month supervised release order and was banned from contacting his three female victims for five years.
Held throat and pinned to wall
Prosecutor Sarah Smith told the court jealous Gibson would accuse his first victim of infidelity and shout in her face, calling her a “slut” and “cow”.
He regularly made derogatory remarks about her appearance and hit her on a “number of occasions” during her pregnancy.
On one occasion after the birth, he grabbed the woman by the throat and pinned her against a wall “for several seconds”.
Another time she was lying in bed and Gibson put a pillow over her face for a few seconds.
In another instance he put her in a tight headlock, leaving her struggling to breathe until she broke free by scratching his neck. He grabbed her throat as she held a baby.
At other times he punched her in the face or spat on her face after accusing her of cheating and once kicked her cat.
The court heard Gibson grabbed a second partner by the throat and pinned her against a wall while she was pregnant, following an argument about him drinking alcohol.
His victim could not recall how long this lasted but she was left with bruising.
He punched her and left her with a black eye during a different argument.
‘Hammered’ victim
Gibson was seen by neighbours assaulting a third woman in 2022.
They saw the woman on the ground, holding onto the front door, while Gibson was behind her pulling her by the hair and dragging her back inside.
A month later, at an address in Lochore, Gibson started assaulting her for no apparent reason.
He repeatedly punched her on the head and threw her around the room, the fiscal said.
Another man present described Gibson “hammering” the woman and “throwing” her “about the house”.
He intervened and managed to pull Gibson off the woman, who ran to a neighbour’s house.
Gibson turned on the man and they exchanged punches.
Golf club assault
A short time later, neighbours saw Gibson in the street punching and kicking the man.
The fiscal depute said: “He (Gibson) then picked up a golf club, walked towards (the man) and struck him with the golf club.”
The man shielded himself with his arm as Gibson repeatedly struck him.
The fiscal said: “The head of the club then struck (the man) on the head and he fell to the ground.
“He continued to repeatedly punch and kick (the man) to the head and body when he was on the ground.”
Police found the man with a large swollen lump on his forehead, a cut to his left eyelid and blood coming from his nose.
He was taken by ambulance to hospital and police were informed he had suffered a seizure.
Medics found he had bruising to the right of his forehead, a superficial laceration below the right eye, and bruising to both shoulders.
He was discharged the next day.
‘I know I’ve been a b*****d’
Defence lawyer Philip McWilliams said Gibson told him: “I know I have been an absolute b*****d at times and I am ashamed of myself.”
The solicitor said Gibson had “great difficulty” with alcohol and substance misuse since around 2010 and has witnessed domestic abuse in the past.
The lawyer said Gibson has had time to reflect since being in custody and asked for social work support following his client’s release from prison.
For more local court content visit our page or join us on Facebook.
