A 26-year-old man left a gaping six-inch hole in his girlfriend’s arm by cutting out a contraceptive implant with a knife.
Nicholas Dean made an unsuccessful first attempt to gouge out the the 40mm flexible tube, then sharpened the knife before having another go.
In the second attempt he cut so far into his girlfriend’s arm that it exposed subcutaneous material deep beneath the skin and was gushing blood.
Dean, a prisoner at Perth, was jailed for 55 weeks after admitting the charge at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.
Sheriff Alasdair Thornton heard Dean and his girlfriend Abby Fitzpatrick were both complicit in the operation.
Dean agreed to cut out the implant, which should only be removed by a doctor, after Ms Fitzpatrick told him that she no longer wanted the device.
When she began to bleed heavily they called an ambulance and the police arrived on the scene. The pair then created a story that Ms Fitzpatrick had been slashed by a mugger.
She was taken to hospital while Dean made an attempt to continue the lie by showing police where the supposed robbery had taken place.
Dean was charged with culpably and recklessly using a knife to cut the arm of Abby Fitzgerald, also known as Abby Fitzpatrick, to remove a contraceptive implant on August 4 at Alma Street, Inverkeithing, and that he falsely represented to two police constables that Ms Fitzpatrick had been the subject of an assault and attempted robbery.
Dean was also convicted of assaulting Ms Fitzpatrick on Kirkcaldy Esplanade on October 25.
Dean’s solicitor Andrew Grieve said his client believes the relationship is over.