CLYDEBANK MAN JAILED FOR 'UTTER CRUELTY' AGAINST TWO WOMEN
A man from Clydebank was sentenced to 27 months in prison today for a series of acts described as a 'compendium of utter cruelty' toward women, despite being cleared of any charges related to raping the victims.Lawrence Barilli, 35, was convicted of assaulting two women by choking them and threatening them with violence.
One of the victims testified that he had attacked her while she was initially sleeping in her bed, claiming he was driven by a condition he described as causing him to act in such ways.
During an earlier trial, it was also alleged that Barilli had claimed to suffer from sexsomnia.
Although he was acquitted of raping women, he was found guilty of assault.
A judge at the High Court in Edinburgh commented: "You were convicted of charges which involved insidious, comprehensive and sustained physical and mental abuse over two periods covering three years in total." Judge Craig Scott QC stated that one woman reported that it was difficult to find a day without violence and that she lived in "a constant state of despair and fear." The second woman described experiencing "a catalogue of physical and emotional abuse," noting that Barilli's actions had left her devastated and still caused her nightmares.
The judge highlighted that Barilli was accurately described as a bully.
He had assaulted his first teenage victim in houses located in Greenock and Gourock, Renfrewshire, between October 2008 and August 2010.
The victim was subjected to hair-pulling, punching, kicking, being pinned against a wall, and having her neck squeezed.
She described Barilli as easily angered over minor issues and subjected to name-calling such as "slut" and "scum." The second victim, aged 35, was attacked between September 2011 and October 2012 at residences in Uddingston, Lanarkshire, and Shettleston, Glasgow, as well as at an Edinburgh hotel after meeting through a dating website.
Her account detailed being kicked, her hair grabbed, her neck squeezed, and being thrown onto a couch and pinned to a bed during the assaults.
