Abuse victim welcomes successful appeal against what she considered a lenient sentence give to her abusive sex offender ex-husband from Nairn – ‘I’m pleased, but it’s still not enough’
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A woman has spoken of her delight on hearing of a successful appeal against her abusive sex offender ex-husband.
In January, Thomas Marty Hannah (55) – known as Marty – of Sutors Avenue, Nairn, was found guilty by a jury at Inverness Sheriff Court of a string of offences committed between 1991 and 2020.
But he was spared a prison sentence, prompting the woman at the time to tell the Courier: “I don’t think justice has been done.”
Sheriff Gary Aitken ordered Hannah to carry out 280 hours of unpaid work and placed him under social work supervision and on the sex offenders’ register for three years.
He was also ordered to participate in programmes for domestic abusers and alcohol treatment and barred from having any unsupervised contact with girls under the age of 17 without the permission of his supervising officer, who must also approve where he lives.
In addition, he was made the subject of a three-year long non-harassment order, to protect his victims.
However, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service challenged the ruling and after the case was heard at the appeals court he was re-sentenced this month.
A spokesman for Solemn Appeals at the High Court of Justiciary, which is based in Edinburgh, has confirmed that Hannah’s sentence was increased to four years of imprisonment.
In addition he has been placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for an indefinite period.
After hearing the news, the woman, who now lives in the Inverness area, told the Courier that she could not believe it, adding: “I didn’t expect that – and I didn’t expect it to happen so quick.”
She said she had been kept informed by the procurator fiscal. She said: “She phoned me later that day saying he received four years and was going straight to jail.”
The woman said she was pleased that he had been placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for an indefinite period, adding: “I’m delighted that we all got justice but I still don’t think it’s enough for what he did but its better than what he got at Inverness court.”
She said that she felt she and the other victims had finally got “closure” and she could now move on with her life.
Hannah’s offences included assaulting his former wife on various occasions between May 6, 1991, and May 28, 2020, including striking her on the head and seizing her by the neck.
He was also convicted of using lewd and libidinous practices on a girl under the age of 16 on New Year’s Day in 2000 and, between December 31, 2016 and January 4, 2017, sexually assaulting a girl under the age of 13.
On May 6, 1995 he severely injured and permanently disfigured another woman by hitting her on the head with a bottle.
Other charges on which he was found guilty included a breach of the peace committed some time between November 17 and December 31, 1992 where he destroyed a kitchen and smashed windows at a property in Nairn and a charge of behaving in a disorderly manner on various occasions between May 6, 1991, and May 29, 2020 by repeatedly shouting and swearing, throwing and damaging furniture and placing the occupants of a property in a state of fear and alarm.
