An abuser found to have tormented two women during his relationships with them by beating them and subjecting them to physical and emotional cruelty has been jailed for four years.
A jury found Kevin Stuart McLaren guilty of nine charges relating to his conduct towards the women - said in court to have caused both of them “significant” psychological harm.
Perth Sheriff Court heard McLaren attacked one of the women twice when he knew she was pregnant with his child, knocked the other unconscious during another attack and beat both women so badly on occasions he put both their lives in danger.
The court also heard he mistreated pets belonging to the women as a means to keep them in a subjugated state - one time by hurling a cat against a wall and another time by striking a dog.
McLaren (38), of Grampian Court, Crieff Road, Perth, was found guilty of assaulting the first woman four times at a flat in Perth between April 17, 2005 and April 1 the following year.
The jury found McLaren seized her by the throat, pushed her into a doorframe, spat in her face and shut her in a bedroom during the first attack and pinned her on a couch and repeatedly punched her on the body during the second.
They also found he threw hot food and household items at her and pushed her face into a soiled cat litter tray during the third assault and that he dragged her by the hair, repeatedly struck her head against a wall, seized her and squeezed her by the neck and repeatedly kicked her body during the fourth.
The court heard the woman was pregnant at the time of the third and fourth assaults and McLaren also threw the cat against a wall during the fourth assault.
The jury further found McLaren guilty of assaulting the same woman two more times at another address in Perth between October 1, 2006 and August 8 the following year.
They decided he repeatedly punched her on the head and body during the fifth attack and he attempted to pull her fingernails off with his teeth, bit her on the body, repeatedly kicked her on the body and stamped on her during the sixth.
Lastly the jury found McLaren guilty of assaulting the second woman twice at Comrie between December 26, 2018 and March 31 the following year and then engaging in a course of behaviour which was abusive towards her between July 1, 2019 and January 12 the next year.
They found he seized her by the neck, pushed her on a sofa, squeezed her neck then pulled her causing her to hit her head against a wall rendering her unconscious during the first attack and that he threw plates and knives at her and hit her with one of the plates during the second.
McLaren was also found to have shouted and swore at the same woman, argued with her, hit her dog, repeatedly contacted her by telephone, text messages and social media and made direct threats and abusive remarks towards her.
Moving to sentence McLaren sheriff William Wood first reminded the court he heard “in graphic detail” during the trial how McLaren assaulted the first woman when he knew she was pregnant with his child.
The sheriff noted this knowledge failed to stop McLaren from visiting a “vicious, brutal and sustained” assault upon the woman during which he repeatedly hit her head against a wall, squeezed her neck, restricted her breathing and repeatedly kicked her.
“The court heard how she pleaded with you and begged you to stop, for the sake of your unborn child, and how those entreaties fell on deaf ears,” Sheriff Wood summed up.
“The court heard how, on another occasion on which you had again been violent towards her, you had pushed her face into a soiled cat litter tray despite her warning you of the potential dangers of that to your unborn child.”
Sheriff Wood continued: “By your conduct, you kept these women in a profound state of fear, trepidation and subjugation, to such an extent that they each feared ending the relationship, for apprehension of what you might do to them as a result.
“It is clear that your conduct towards them has been cowardly and despicable.
“The intimate relationships with you in which they should have been able to seek comfort and support were no more than a sham in which they trembled at your approach - and the more so if they had cause to think that you had been drinking.”
Sheriff Wood concluded: “Given the nature, number and seriousness of these offences, and in light of your record, I am satisfied that only a significant custodial sentence is appropriate.”
He sentenced McLaren to serve four years in prison and ordered that he remain under licence for a further three years upon his release.
Sheriff Wood also imposed a non-harassment order banning McLaren from contacting or approaching the two women for life.
