Domestic abuse victim speaks out as violent boyfriend is jailed
A domestic abuse victim who feared she was going to be killed by her violent boyfriend has spoken of her relief that he is behind bars.
A domestic abuse victim who feared she was going to be killed by her violent boyfriend has spoken of her relief that he is behind bars.
Kelsie Skillen, 18, was subjected to a four hour ordeal at the hands of James McCourt at the flat they shared in Milton, because she wouldn’t get him a cigarette.
McCourt, 19, hid her phone and keys and locked the door to stop her leaving before battering her for hours saying “You’re going to have a bruised face tomorrow so I better do it right.”
He spat in her face and poured water over her his terrified girlfriend.
She said she believed he was going to kill her as she drifted in and out of consciousness during the sustained attack and finally managed to contact her mum for help, who brought the police to the flat.
Last month at Glasgow Sheriff Court, McCourt admitted a charge of assaulting Miss Skillen “on various occasions” between May 1 and 31 this year, including bursting her nose open.
He also pled guilty to the prolonged assault to her severe injury on June 5 at the Egilsay Terrace flat and “detaining her against her will”, and a separate charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner in a taxi during the lead up to the assault.
Passing sentence Sheriff Sam Cathcart told McCourt the “only appropriate” sentence was custody and sent him to detention for 21 months.
He ordered McCourt be supervised for eight months after he is released, and imposed a five year non-harrassment order preventing him from contacting his ex partner.
Sheriff Cathcart told him: “She (Kelsi) was so badly bruised she stayed off her work for three weeks.”
McCourt grinned at his family in the public gallery as he was lead down to the cells.
Speaking after the sentencing, brave Kelsie said: “I’m happy he has been sent away and can’t get to me, I’m so glad.
“During the incident I kept saying ‘Is it worth going to jail?’ and he said ‘I don’t care if I go to jail as long as you’re dead’.
“I remember thinking, he is trying to kill me. He is dangerous.”
The four-hour long incident started after they returned home from a night out and McCourt had left his jacket with his cigarettes behind.
Kelsie said: “He said it was my fault, I had left his jacket, then he just flipped and grabbed me and attacked me.
“He had his knees oh my chest so I couldn’t get up and was punching me.”
He bit her on the body, repeatedly punched her on the head and shouted, swore, and threatened her.
McCourt hid the keys to the flat, her phone and iPad as well as the connection to the internet and didn’t let her out his sight for hours.
Eventually he left the room she believes to go to the toilet, which gave her the chance find her iPad and the cable to get online stashed under the couch.
She said: “My iPad only had two per cent battery so I had to be quick, I was panicking and managed to get in touch with my mum.
“When she turned up I quickly ran to the buzzer - then he ran away.”
Kelsie described screaming during the attack and banging on the floor in a desperate attempt to be heard by neighbours.
She added: “Eventually I realised the more I kept screaming he more he retaliated and attacked me, eventually I got to the point I stopped and he wasn’t getting the reaction he wanted.
“That was when he started pouring the water over me. I drifted in and out of consciousness during the incident so I didn’t realise it had been going on for so long.”
The hairdresser and make-up artist from Bishopbriggs said she was “so relieved” when her mum turned up and in her statements to the police was able to relay the earlier incidents in May this year.
Defence advocate Simon Gilbride told the sheriff McCourt is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and it was previously said he was “ashamed” of his conduct.