Inverness man put former partner put in a headlock
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A YOUNG girl was left cowering behind the legs of a neighbour crying that a man was trying to kill her and his ex-partner.
Martin Murray (40) admitted assaulting his former partner Andrea McFarlane in an incident in a block of flats in King Duncan’s Road, Inverness, on December 27 last year.
The court heard that the young girl witnessed Murray attacking Ms McFarlane, seizing her by the throat, compressing it to an extent she thought she was going to die, and chasing her out of her house in her bare feet.
Sheriff Gary Aitken told Murray: “This is a very grave and appalling offence.”
He remanded him in custody and deferred sentence until May 21 for a background report.
Defence solicitor Clare Russell appealed for her client to be given his liberty, adding that he had been diagnosed as suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.
Sheriff Aitken dismissed her plea, adding: “Don’t try and pull at the heart-strings.”
Fiscal depute Robert Weir told the court that Murray and Ms McFarlane had been at a party and had an argument in the taxi home.
“He got out and when Ms McFarlane got home she went to bed. But the kitchen window of the ground floor flat was left slightly ajar. Later that night, she was wakened by banging, got up and saw Murray in the hallway.
“He refused to leave and grabbed her throat in a headlock. She felt she was unable to breathe or shout or scream for help. She later stated that she believed she was dying.”
Mr Weir went on to say that Ms McFarlane tried to get out the kitchen window but was pulled back inside. Murray let her go but followed her and a little girl who was outside having been wakened by the noise.
An upstairs resident tried to intervene as the young girl “cowered in fear behind his legs saying Murray was trying to kill them”.
She eventually managed to escape by taxi as she was being allowed by Murray to return to her flat.
“As a result of the incident, Ms McFarlane suffered minor injuries to her feet running barefoot away from the flat,” Mr Weir said.
