"I would have died" - Clydebank domestic abuse victim speaks out as her attacker avoids jail

Johana Collins told the Post she was “shocked” her ex-boyfriend Graeme Reid was not jailed for attacking her.

She was left with a badly bruised and swollen face following the drunken assault at the couple’s home at Dunswin Road, Dalmuir, last October and also said she has lost feeling in her forehead and has crippling headaches.

Graeme Reid

Reid was sentenced to a community payback order last week for the attack which a sheriff called “cowardly, aggressive and domineering”.

Johana said: “I think he should have been taught a lesson and sent to prison. I was shocked when I heard the sentence. I feel what he got wasn’t right for what he’s done to me.

“I remember what happened as if it was yesterday. He was steaming, he was going off his head. He sat on top of me and was choking me – I couldn’t breathe – and he was headbutting me. I kept moving my head from side to side to try and avoid him.

“I felt numb. To get him off me I kidded on his wallet was in the bathroom. I don’t know how I got the strength to get up. I managed to run away to my neighbours. See if my neighbour hadn’t saved me, I would have been dead.

“My whole face was just black and blue and swollen up. I looked like an alien.

“I’m still really in shock because of what he’s done. I can’t go anywhere on my own. He made me that way. I’m just really scarred mentally.”

Johana said therapy is helping her put her life back together. She still regularly visits her doctor and has a lack of feeling in her forehead she fears will never go away as well as severe headaches.

Johana says therapy is helping her put her life back together

Last week, Dumbarton Sheriff Court heard Reid, a clerical officer with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, launched the attack after a drunken night out.

He partially strangled his then-girlfriend while headbutting her as she shouted for help.

She eventually managed to flee to a nearby home, shouting: "Let me in, he's hitting me."

Fiscal depute Carol Cameron told the court the couple had been in Glasgow with Reid's mother on the night of the assault, October 29 last year.

Both the couple were drunk and fell out, returning to Clydebank separately.

When his girlfriend arrived back at their home at Dunswin Road, Dalmuir, around 9.30pm she found Reid "very drunk" and an argument broke out.

The police were called, made inquiries and left but after they had gone another row started which turned violent.

Ms Cameron told the court: "The accused pulled [his girlfriend] into the hall. He then pushed her to the floor and sat on top her. It was at that point he grabbed her by the throat. He pushed down on her throat and restricted her breathing.

"She tried to shout for help and she tried to break free of his grip and as a result the accused headbutted her several times to her forehead and the left hand side of her face.

"While doing that he was continuing to hold her by the throat."

Ms Cameron said Reid then got up and went to the bathroom and his girlfriend fled the home, and went to the door of a friend, shouting "Please let me in, he's hitting me."

The police were called and the injured woman was taken by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow for treatment.

She was left with severe bruising and swelling to her face.

The court heard when the police charged Reid he told them: "I can't remember any of that."

He pleaded guilty to assault at an earlier date and appeared at court on Wednesday for sentencing.

His lawyer, Gail Campbell, said Reid was "shocked" to hear what he had done.

She said: "Under normal circumstances he would never be appearing in court."

She said Reid, who has alcohol and gambling problems, had been suspended from his work during the court case.

Sheriff Maxwell Hendry told Reid: "Don't be under the slightest doubt that this assault justifies sending you to prison, it clearly does.

"However, I can only send you to prison if there is no reasonable alternative and although this despicable assault was callous, cowardly, aggressive and domineering - and the list goes on - I can allow you one opportunity to show that you are not going to reoffend in this fashion."

He sentenced Reid, who now lives at Dubton Street, Easterhouse, to a community payback order involving 160 hours of unpaid work and 18 months of supervision.

The Scottish Domestic Abuse helpline number can be contacted free on 0800 027 1234.