A man has been given a prison warning after he admitted he attacked a young child in Fife after asking if he thought he was “hard” during a three-year campaign of domestic abuse and assaults.
Stuart McLaren attacked the boy on various occasions when he was aged between two and five.
His victims are now safe from his “appalling” behaviour, having fled Scotland for Australia.
However, a sheriff explained the lasting effects of the 43-year-old’s conduct could be “horrific”.
Fiscal depute Sarah Smith explained McLaren and his previous partner were in a relationship for six or seven years and lived in Dunfermline at the time of his offending, having previously stayed in England.
She said the relationship became toxic after McLaren lost his job.
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard he would shout and swear at her, even in front of children.
He would repeatedly demand money and threaten to kill himself if she refused.
On one occasion, he told the woman she had to give him money because his creditors would hurt them.
People did later attend at their door demanding money, which she fearfully handed over.
Knife
On another occasion, McLaren pushed the woman against a wall while shouting and swearing and another time, said he would kill everything she loved and threatened to bury her in the garden.
Later, the woman was sitting on the couch with a young child on her knee when intoxicated McLaren approached holding a knife.
Another evening, McLaren was arguing about the behaviour of the child, aged under five and pinned him to a sofa.
He shouted “you f***ing little c***” at the child and “you think you’re f***ing hard, do you?”
The child, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, shouted: “You’re hurting me.”
After a similar attack, the boy spoke to a school teacher and they contacted social work.
The woman explained she was afraid to speak to police and showed two concerning videos to the social worker.
Guilt accepted
McLaren, now of East Kilbride, admitted assaulting the young child on various occasions in Dunfermline, including slapping him on the buttocks and grabbing him by the shoulders and throwing him along a sofa.
McLaren also admitted a three-year-long campaign of domestic abuse towards the woman in Dunfermline.
He pushed her against a wall and pressed his head against hers, shouted and swore at her and threatened her and her family.
He presented a knife at her and demanded the woman buy him booze and made offensive remarks.
‘Absolutely appalling’
Solicitor Calum Harris explained his client had been jailed before but added: “This is the first time he’s appeared in the criminal court for some time.”
Sheriff John MacRitchie ordered reports, continued bail and deferred sentencing to August 6.
The sheriff said: “Notwithstanding the absolutely appalling nature of the narrative I’ve just heard, I have to maintain a balance at this stage.
“Clearly, uppermost in the mind of any sheriff will be a significant custodial sentence for such an appalling course of conduct involving very young children.
“The effect may be horrific.”
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