A MAN who kidnapped a two-year-old girl and assaulted his ex-girlfriend has been sentenced to thirty months in jail.
Colin MacDonald, 29, was also told that when he is released from prison he will be subjected to a supervision release order for 10 months, in the interests of public safety.
MacDonald and his long-term partner had ended their relationship on 9 June this year, which he found “emotionally difficult”.
Two days later MacDonald turned up outside her house in Ratho Station, Edinburgh, in a car driven by a friend.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard that the woman ran away from MacDonald, who was described as “irate” – leaving a child she was in the care of next to his car in a buggy.
Procurator Fiscal Isabel Clark told the court: “Mr MacDonald stopped chasing the complainer soon after and returned to the vehicle.
“When [his former partner] returned to where the car had been parked she realised the child was missing from the buggy and immediately phoned the accused.
“He told her that if the police chased him he would crash the car.
“[His former partner] was in a state of fear and alarm, and neighbours urged her to call the police.
“All officers in the area were alerted to the situation, which was being treated as abduction, and a police car managed to track down and pull over the vehicle safely.”
But shortly before 4am on 14 August this year – while MacDonald was out on bail for the first offence – his former partner returned from a night out with friends to find him sitting in her living room.
He pushed her onto a bed and punched her in the face, before compressing her neck causing her to momentarily pass out.
When she came round she realised MacDonald was lying on top of her.
She produced a knife which she had taken hold of when she realised he was inside the property and the pair were involved in a struggle, which left both of them injured.
MacDonald suffered a superficial cut to his lower back and the woman was given stitches for a cut to her lip.
Neighbours heard the struggle and phoned the police, who arrived to see the woman running across the garden with blood on her face, when she reportedly shouted: “He’s got a knife.”
Mark Hutcheson, representing MacDonald, said: “He had only arrived at the house because he had been trying to contact her all evening and he admits he get severely jealous and paranoid because of a long term drug problem.
“He is sorry for what he has done and accepts his actions were wrong.
“He found the break-up of the relationship very emotionally difficult to deal with, and says everything he did was in the heat of the moment.
“I should add that [his former partner] has been in constant contact with him since he was taken into custody in August, and they are looking at ways to reconcile their differences.”
Sentencing Mr MacDonald, Sheriff Mackinnon said: “This was appalling behaviour on your part.
“Due to the seriousness of the matter I will be sentencing you to 10 months imprisonment for the first offence and 20 months for the second.”
He said MacDonald’s sentence was reduced by a third because he pled guilty to all of the charges at the earliest possible time.
He added: “I am going to place you on a supervision release order when you get out, and you will report to a local authority supervisor regularly for 10 months, to make sure someone is keeping an eye on you.”
