A Lanarkshire thug shot in a gangland attack has walked free from court after thumping his girlfriend.
Marc McDermott hit Cheryl Fraser in a drunken Hogmanay row when their relationship turned "toxic" around the time of the shooting.
The 30-year-old was hit in the back and backside when he was confronted by three masked men in Cumbernauld in January 2020. An innocent dog walker was injured and her pet killed by a stray bullet, the Daily Record reports.
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Ms Fraser told Airdrie Sheriff Court there were "death threats, shootings and stabbings" around the time of the gun attack.
McDermott appeared in the dock on Thursday after he admitted assaulting Ms Fraser, 33, at her home in Cumbernauld on New Year's Eve 2019.
At an earlier hearing Ms Fraser explained: "Both of us were drinking a lot because of the stress in Marc's life.
"There were death threats, shootings and stabbings. People feared for their lives. I have blocked out years of my life and I have been to therapy because of this. I have severe memory loss."
She agreed with Peter Malone, defending, that her relationship with McDermott had been "toxic", adding: "It was horrible."
McDermott and another man were jailed in 2012 for an attempted murder that left the 19-year-old male victim brain-damaged. In 2021 he was given a community work order for carrying an axe months after the attempt on his life.
But Mr Malone said working in the family's industrial cleaning business has been a "positive" factor that has helped him change his lifestyle. Sheriff Joseph Hughes put McDermott under supervision for 30 months and ordered him to do 300 hours of unpaid community work.
He must pay Ms Fraser £500 compensation and stay away from her for nine months under a non-harassment order. The sheriff told him: "You have a pretty bad record that includes two previous domestic convictions involving Ms Fraser.
"This was a nasty incident. If you come back to court for something similar you'll get a one-way ticket back to prison."
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