Arbroath man spared jail after stabbing wife in the chest

A man who stabbed his wife in the chest after the couple went on a night out escaped a jail sentence today after the victim made a plea to spare him prison.

A judge told Tony Cartney that he regarded it as an exceptional case in which a non-custodial disposal could be made and placed him on a community payback order with three years supervision and a 300 hour unpaid work requirement.

Cartney's wife Leigh left the High Court in Edinburgh smiling and relieved at the outcome which will reunite her with her husband.

The judge, Lord Boyd of Duncansby, told Cartney, 49, "So far as punishment is concerned you will have to live with the fact that you caused a very serious injury to the person you love."

Lord Boyd said that would stay with Cartney for the remainder of his life.

He said he took into account that Cartney was a first offender with a good work record, who was genuinely remorseful and did not pose a threat to the public.

The judge said: "I am also satisfied that were I to impose a sentence of imprisonment it would have a deleterious effect on your wife and be as much punishment for her as it is for you."

He told Cartney: "Ordinarily there would be no question you would go to prison for quite a long time. The seriousness of the offence cannot be underestimated. It is perhaps more by luck and good fortune that you are not facing a murder charge."

Lord Boyd said he had received a victim impact statement from Mrs Cartney and a letter and added it was clear she wished the relationship with her husband to continue.

He told Cartney: "She is clear she does not want you to go to prison and she describes the adverse effect such an outcome would have on her."

The judge said that although she understood protection needed to be put in place for victims no one had thought to ask her what she wanted or what she thought was in her best interests.

He said that the enforced separation between the couple over the past year when she was prevented from seeing Cartney because of a court order was "an unhappy and stressful time for her". The judge added: "She describes it as a bereavement."

"You have been with your wife for some 25 years and you have an adult son, There is no history of domestic abuse. On the contrary this is described as being out of character," he said.

Lord Boyd said that everything he had seen and heard suggested that Mrs Cartney's views were "genuine and freely held".

He said: "There is no suggestion that your wife is a victim of domestic abuse or that she is under any emotional or other pressure."

The judge said he had to consider what weight to give to the wife's views but also the wider public interest, but before he could pass a prison sentence he had to be satisfied no other disposal was appropriate.

Defence solicitor advocate Kris Gilmartin said: "Leigh Cartney's family have forgiven Tony Cartney for his actions and so too has Leigh Cartney. She intends to continue the relationship."

Mr Gilmartin said that that coupled with the implications of imprisonment that led Mrs Cartney to ask the court to step away from sending him to jail.

He said college employee Cartney has shown "genuine distress, guilt and remorse" following the offence.

Mr Gilmartin said that at the time he was under stress and abusing alcohol but had sought help for the problem and has abstained from drink since.

He said Cartney was assessed as suitable for a non-custodial sentence and no public protection issues were identified.

"He has no previous convictions, no history of violence and no history of domestic abuse," he said.

"The true punishment in this case is that he knows he has caused harm to the person he loves deeply. He will have to live with that for the rest of his life," said Mr Gilmartin.

He said Cartney had suffered "the torment" of having no contact with his wife for almost a year and had to wait to say sorry to her.

Cartney was released on bail following an initial court appearance under a condition that he did not approach or contact her.

He argued that Cartney was an appropriate candidate for a non-custodial disposal despite the seriousness of the offence.

Cartney was originally charged with attempting to murder his wife on September 8 in 2018 at the family home in Buick Drive, Arbroath, in Angus.

But his guilty plea to a lesser charge of assaulting her by striking her chest with a knife to her severe injury, permanent disfigurement and to the danger of her life was accepted.

The single knife wound entered the chest cavity and an emergency medicine consultant concluded that if the weapon's trajectory had been millimetres different it could have proved fatal.

The couple went out drinking on the day of the offence in Arbroath and after meeting another couple went to the Rams Heid bar.

His wife went outside to wait for a taxi that had been called. Advocate depute Chris McKenna said: "The accused was very intoxicated and required assistance to the taxi."

After they returned home an argument broke out and Cartney went into the kitchen and returned armed with a large knife, before stabbing his wife to the left side of her chest.

He then left and his wife called an ambulance in a distressed state and said her husband had stabbed her and she did not know where he had gone.

Police found her kneeling on the living room floor lying face down on the couch with the bloody knife used to stab her in her right hand.

A police dog was brought in to help search for Cartney and he was found about 200 metres away from the crime scene lying in long grass at a hedge.

Cartney later told police that he could not remember his wife being assaulted. He said he had a hazy recollection of being at the house and his wife holding her chest and shouting 'help'.

He said he had been drinking in pubs in Arbroath with his wife and believed he had seven pints of lager and between two and five whiskies. He said he was very drunk and could not remember getting home.

Mr McKenna said: "He stated that he could not remember how Leigh Cartney became injured but if it had been him then he was sorry."

"The accused was remorseful for the injuries his wife received but he could not remember how or who inflicted them, " said the prosecutor.

Mr Gilmartin told the court that Cartney was seen by a psychiatrist who concluded that his amnesia was genuine.