A man who poured fuel on a pregnant woman warning he would set her alight has been jailed for four and a half years.
Aaron Bell put the victim through the ordeal at a house in Dundee while appearing to find it funny.
Jurors heard how two other petrified women later suffered at the 33-year-old’s violent hands.
On Monday, Bell was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow having earlier been convicted of a total of five charges.
He was guilty of assaulting the first and behaving in a threatening manner towards her.
Bell committed the same crimes against the second woman.
He was convicted of engaging in a course of controlling and abusive behaviour towards the last victim.
The charges spanned between 2016 and 2020 at different addresses in Dundee.
Judge Tony Kelly said Bell had “systematically” preyed on each woman.
He went on: “One spoke of a terrifying ordeal at your hands.
“Amongst other things, you doused her in fuel threatening to set her on fire while she was heavily pregnant.
“For some reason, you saw humour in this conduct.”
The court heard Bell, of Dundee, also strangled the woman with a car seatbelt.
The second victim was left with a serious nose injury having been assaulted.
Judge Kelly said: “You drove a car towards her. Both have confirmed the enduring effects towards them. That is unsurprising.”
Bell also locked his final victim in a house from which she had to climb out of a window to escape.
As well as also being assaulted, Bell took money out of her bank account, kept tabs on who she contacted and interfered with her mail.
He also took a photo of her in her underwear. Bell refused to delete it even though she begged him to.
Judge Kelly said: “Despite her clear distress, you continued to engage in it.
“Life with you must have been a constant, appalling and terrifying nightmare.”
Bell was also given non-harassment orders banning him from contacting the women for the next five years.
Follow STV News on WhatsApp
Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
