A man who gripped a woman in a headlock in front of her son has been jailed for three years.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard the boy thought his mum was dead after Brian Edwards released his grip and the woman “slumped” to the floor unconscious.
The boy then “gently shook her” for a few minutes before she awoke “dazed and confused”.
The court heard the woman did not report the incident to police as she was too frightened but she did report it when the man began stalking her.
Edwards, 29, of Perth Prison, previously admitted one charge of assault and a second charge of stalking.
Fiscal depute Vicki Bell told the court the assault took place at a property in Dundee during an argument between Edwards and the woman.
She said he climbed over the bed, grabbed the complainer and placed her in a headlock. The woman’s son heard shouting and came into the bedroom.
The fiscal said: “Her son thought she was dead as she just slumped to the floor.
“The accused left the room. Her son went over and gently shook her and after a few minutes she awoke and saw her son and the accused. She felt dazed and confused.”
Some time later the woman began receiving a number of text messages and phone calls from Edwards and she changed her number in a bid to stop him contacting her.
Edwards then phoned her from a mutual friend’s phone and thereafter repeatedly from a withheld number. That same day she received 48 text messages from him and three days later she received 140 text messages from him, which included threats of violence and offensive names.
The fiscal said that the woman was frightened Edwards would turn up at her house and subject more violence on her.
The following month she received three letters from him sent from Perth Prison and at that point she contacted police. Solicitor Ann Duffy, defending, said: “He has anger issues and that results in violence.”
Edwards, previously of Arklay Street, admitted one charge of assault to injury between July 1 and September 24 last year, at a property in Dundee. And he admitted a second charge of engaging in a course of conduct which placed a woman in a state of fear and alarm between July 1 and November 5 last year.
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