iStockA man who carried out a horror hammer attack on his former partner after she dumped him has been jailed for 14 years.
Kyle Bryce left the woman with life-changing injuries including severe brain damage.
The 38-year-old was held after going on to threaten to strangle a female garage worker the same day.
The first offender was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow on Friday.
He had earlier admitted attempting to murder his former partner at a property in Dunoon, Argyll and Bute on May 2 2024.
Lord Arthurson cut the jail term from 18 years due to the guilty plea.
The judge described the violence as “frenzied and wholly murderous”.
Bryce had gone to the house in Dunoon that day, where he started arguing with the victim. The woman then said she wanted them to split.
Prosecutor Mark Mohammed KC stated: “She asked Bryce to take his belongings and leave the house.”
The woman went on to call her mother and told her that the relationship was over.
But, Mr Mohammed said raging Bryce, of Clydebank, did not leave.
There was then, instead, another row before he shoved the victim against a wall.
The prosecutor said: “He took a hammer and struck her on the head, causing her to fall in the kitchen.”
Bryce delivered more blows, resulting in the woman being knocked out and suffering a string of horrific injuries.
He went to abandon the victim, left the house and dumped the hammer in a bin.
A sobbing Bryce called his brother-in-law, admitting “something bad happened”.
He was also “hysterical” when he phoned his mother.
Bryce went on to dial 999 and stated: “Murder…the patient is away to heaven”.
He said his ex was now “gone” and had suffered a “serious head injury”.
Emergency services arrived, and police initially believed they may have to force entry after finding all the doors locked.
The victim’s mum was contacted, and she luckily had a spare key.
The woman was discovered still lying on the floor, badly hurt and unresponsive.
She was rushed to hospital in Glasgow.
The victim had brain damage, a fractured skull as well as other injuries to her face.
She was later transferred to a rehab unit at Inverclyde Royal Hospital in Greenock.
Mr Mohammed said she remains badly affected by her ordeal.
He told the hearing: “She will not fully recover from her brain injury.
“She is at increased risk of developing early onset dementia.
“There has been permanent hearing loss in the right ear.”
As of August 2024, the woman was awaiting a bed at her local hospital.
She will end up needing supported accommodation as she can no longer live independently.
The court heard Bryce was held that night after he was involved in the assault of a petrol station worker in Strachur, Argyll and Bute, following the attack.
This woman had tried to stop him from driving off before he pushed her and threatened: “I will choke you to death”.
Bryce also pleaded guilty on Friday to the assault at the filling station.
The judge had previously called Bryce’s attack on his ex as “truly horrific”.
Sentencing, he said: “There is no doubt that you intended to kill your victim.
“Indeed, your remarks in the aftermath disclose that you thought that you had killed her.
“You perpetrated a sustained, frenzied and wholly murderous attack upon your victim with a hammer.
“Your victim will never again live a normal life, or perhaps anything even remotely resembling that.”
He added that the impact statement from the woman’s mother was “powerful, eloquent, and truly heart-rending.”
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