Gutter cleaner kept teenage girl captive and suffocated her with bedsheets

15 December 2023 , 15:48

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George MacDonald was jailed for 13 and a half months for his course of domestic abuse against his partner to the danger of her life (Image: Tim Bugler)

A gutter cleaner has been jailed for over a year after he held a university student captive in his flat and suffocated her with bedclothes until she passed out.

Carla Don, who was 18 at the time of the offences, met George MacDonald, 23, while she was studying at the University of Dundee. Falkirk Sheriff Court heard how the pair had started going out in early 2022 but within months MacDonald had begun his campaign of abusive behaviour towards her.

"He got down on one knee and was begging her not to leave him when all of a sudden he bit her on the right thigh," Prosecutor James Moncrieff told the court. The bite didn't break the skin, but caused bruising, the Daily Record reports. 0n June 16, 2022, Carla, who is from the Stirling area, stayed overnight at MacDonald's flat in Tillicoultry.

University student Carla Don wsa subjected to months of domestic abuse, the court heard

The next day she told him she wanted to go and see her mother, but he forced her to stay, and placed a broken chain necklace round her neck and "pulled it tight", causing reddening. Twice during an all-day ordeal he put bedcovers over her head and held them down so tightly she was unable to breathe, losing consciousness on both occasions, and once again placed the broken jewellery chain round her neck and pulled it tight.

He detained her in the flat until 9pm, when she told him her throat was painful and she needed to go to a nearby shop to get a drink. He initially refused to let her, but then agreed that they should drive to the shop together. When they got there, he stayed in the car while she went inside. Mr Moncrieff said she used the opportunity to escape and contact her mother.

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Police were called, and MacDonald was later arrested. He appeared for sentence on Wednesday, after pleading guilty to engaging in a course of domestic abuse of Carla to her injury and danger of her life. Solicitor-advocate Stephen Biggam, for MacDonald, said: "I don't think he'll want to hear it, but I don't think he is someone who should be unsupervised, going forward."

MacDonald wept in the dock as Sheriff Christopher Shead told him: "I have to consider whether a custodial sentence is the only appropriate disposal. That's always difficult. You haven't served such a sentence before, and you're young. I'm afraid I've reached the conclusion that this offence does call for that sentence."

The judge jailed MacDonald for 13-and-a-half months, ordered him to undergo six months' social work supervision on release, and imposed a non-harassment order banning him from contacting Carla for five years.

Tim Bugler