An East Kilbride man who smashed a glass bottle over his girlfriend’s head following a festive row has failed in a bid to quash his conviction.
Gordon Campbell was given a two-and-a-half long jail term after being convicted of assaulting his partner on December 26, 2018.
The 53-year-old was jailed after a trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court trial in which jurors heard how he had been downing drinks at his father’s house during a Christmas Day dinner.
After enjoying festivities, Campbell and his victim returned to his flat having started ‘bickering’ with each other during the journey home.
A jury heard how Campbell struck the woman on the back of the head with the bottle before hitting her again for a second time.
She was covered in blood and one neighbour thought there had been a murder given the quantities of bodily fluid staining the close.
The victim, then aged 45, fled the property in East Kilbride before being treated for her injuries.
She had tried to wake up neighbours for help and told the court: “I thought he was going to come out and finish whatever he had started."
Lawyers for Campbell, who has previous convictions for domestic abuse, went to the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh to argue that Sheriff Daniel Kelly didn’t properly direct jurors about the law in his closing directions.
However, appeal judges Lord Carloway, Lord Menzies and Lord Turnbull rejected the submission and upheld the conviction.
In a written judgement issued on Tuesday, Lord Carloway concluded that Sheriff Kelly didn’t misdirect jurors.
He wrote: “In any event, no miscarriage of justice can be said to have occurred.
“There was clear evidence from the complainer that she had been assaulted and that it had been the appellant who had assaulted her.
“The assault was adequately corroborated by the injuries which the pursuer was suffering when observed by the neighbour on the landing.
“The complainer’s identification of the appellant as her assailant was adequately corroborated by the circumstances spoken to by the neighbour, whereby, at or about 3am, the appellant was standing over the complainer on the landing with blood trailing from there down to the appellant’s flat, where he was found soon after and alone by the police.”
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