Man tried to kill partner by stabbing her with broken Mad Dog bottle

Gary Main attacked Stephanie McKenzie at her flat in Glasgow after being freed from prison.

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A man tried to kill his partner by hitting and stabbing her with a broken Mad Dog 20/20 bottle.

Gary Main attacked Stephanie McKenzie after turning up at her flat in Provanmill, Glasgow on July 19 last year after being freed from prison.

The terrified victim – who suffered a string of injuries – faces the threat of being blinded in her right eye as a result of her ordeal.

On Monday, Judge Lady Stacey said the attack was one of the worst cases of attempted murder she had ever heard. 

Main was sentenced to nine years and four months at the High Court in Glasgow for the attack.

He had previously pled guilty to attempted murder as well as stabbing a police officer to the danger of his life after he was called to the scene.

Prosecutor Bill McVicar told the court how Main was locked up for six months in August 2020 for attacking Ms McKenzie.

Two months later, he was then sentenced to almost two years for further violence not involving his partner.

However he was back on the streets on May 21 last year.

Main ended up at Ms McKenzie’s home on July 17 and initially spent two nights there.

He left then later texted to state he had taken drugs which had “blown his head off”.

Main returned to Ms McKenzie’s flat under the influence and clutching the bottle of Mad Dog.

Mr McVicar said: “He became paranoid asking her to close her windows, questioning if she was up to something and demanding to see her phone.”

The woman eventually told him to leave insisting she was “sick of him”.

But, as she lay in her bedroom, Main stormed in, sat on top of her and repeatedly smacked her with the alcohol bottle.

The court heard one of the blows fractured her skull.

As Ms McKenzie desperately tried to defend herself, Main continued the attack.

She managed at one stage to slide off the bed before she heard the bottle being smashed and Main then grabbing her in a choke hold.

Mr McVicar said: “He repeatedly stabbed her to the head, face and body.

“She tried to curl up into a ball, but he pulled her arms and continued to repeatedly strike her.

“Blood was pouring from her face and she could not see very well.

“She thinks she may have lost consciousness as the next thing she could hear was Main shouting: ‘What have I done?’.”

Ms McKenzie was eventually able to escape before collapsing in her front garden.

Neighbours raced to her aid as a 999 call was made.

One who came to help later said: “I was just thinking how I did not want Stephanie to die in front of me.”

Police soon arrived at the blood-soaked flat.

Main, of the city’s Carmyle, yelled at them: “I would not come up here. I am tooled up.”

When officers confronted Main, he brandished a knife and struck PC James Torrance, who was saved by his body armour.

Mr McVicar said: “PC Torrance said later he was terrified that he had actually been stabbed.”

A number of officers had to use their batons to get Main to drop the blade before he was finally arrested. He was found to have a number of self-inflicted injuries.

In the meantime, Ms McKenzie was rushed to hospital. 

As well as the skull fracture, she also had a “serious sight-threatening injury” to her eye as well as deep wounds to her head and nose.

The court heard her eye will need further surgery and has been left with “permanent visual impairment”.

Ms McKenzie has also been left scarred for life following her ordeal.

Prosecutor Mr McVicar said: “She continues to feel paranoid, nervous and cannot get over what happened and why it happened.”

The hearing was also told PC Torrance was previously in the armed forces and did frontline ambulance work.

Despite that, he described this incident as the “most violent and traumatic” he had ever experienced.

Donald Findlay QC, defending, said Main had “very little memory” of what he had done and had been badly affected by cocaine that night.

Lady Stacey said the jail-term would have been 14 years, but for the guilty plea.

The judge told him: “The behaviour that night was an absolute disgrace.

“It is one of the worst cases of attempted murder that I have been involved in dealing with.

“You have a previous conviction concerning her. You were back with her and she was entitled to look to you for support.

“What you did has caused grave consequences for her.”

Main will also be supervised for a further year on his release.

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