A Dundee man whose abduction victim was forced to throw messages in bottles from a high-rise window has been jailed.
John Lawson violently attacked Klaudia Budzinska after she tried to walk out of his flat in Lansdowne Court.
He dragged her back in before “detaining her against her will” and locking her in the flat.
Lawson then pinned Miss Budzinska down and choked her so viciously that she couldn’t breathe or speak.
The violent thug then fell asleep – leaving terrified Miss Budzinska locked in and completely unable to escape.
She first tried to hang a knotted bed sheet out of a window in a bid to climb down – but dropped it five floors to the ground when she realised how far she would fall.
She then wrote a note and put it in a bottle and threw it at a passer-by, but they didn’t see it.
A second note was then thrown at a man walking towards his granddaughter’s house nearby.
He spotted it and looked up to see Miss Budzinska standing on a balcony – where she made a “be quiet” gesture before putting her hands together in a praying motion then running her finger across her throat.
The note read: “Call police, he almost killed me. Don’t buzz or knock. Kick the door in. Pls help.”
Fiscal depute Vicki Bell told Dundee Sheriff Court: “The incident started around 4am on April 29 2017.
“Police attended at around 8am.
“Fresh injuries were observed on her when they gained entry including multiple bruises on her face and neck and a cut and swelling on her lip.
“In relation to the compression of her neck she said he was squeezing it so hard with both hands that she couldn’t breathe or say anything.
“When she was locked in she couldn’t find a key to get out or find her phone.
“She was certainly a desperate woman at the time.”
Lawson, 35, a prisoner at HMP Perth, pleaded guilty on indictment to charges of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner and abduction.
Defence solicitor Gary McIlravey said: “He’s thoroughly ashamed of himself and is quite appalled by his behaviour.
“The complainer is still in a relationship with him, visits him weekly in prison and still lives in his flats.”
Sheriff Alastair Brown jailed Lawson for two-and-a-half years.
He said: “It’s important that everybody understands that a man who compresses the throat or neck of his domestic partner and who comes before me can expect to be dealt with very seriously.
“I see that conduct repeatedly. It is dangerous, frightening and absolutely unacceptable.”
