Men held woman hostage in Dalmuir flat and threatened her with dogs

Two men held a terrified woman hostage in flat and told her she would be fed to savage dogs in Dalmuir two and a half years ago.

Daniel O'Neill and John Sweeney - both 50 - took the 33 year-old captive at a property in Dalmuir, West Dunbartonshire on June 26 2023.

The victim had been friends with Sweeney's partner Jodie Morrison.

She had gone that night with a friend to the flat where the couple lived.

The victim stated her and Sweeney "did not really like each other". She described him as "not very cheery with me".

She first met Sweeney and Morrison in the flat, but had not clocked O'Neill.

The woman was initially offered a cup of team.

But, she then explained to jurors at the High Court in Glasgow: "Daniel came down and started attacking me. I had been between the hall and the living room door.

"He was rushing towards me. He was hitting me - I put my hands up, but he was getting everywhere.

"It was repeated - that was why I had to defend myself.

"I was taken by surprise. He is a big man."

The woman said her friend was ordered to sit on the couch before he was soon allowed to leave.

The victim then recalled O'Neill - helped this time by Sweeney - binding her feet and legs together with a rope or cable as she was put on the floor.

She told jurors: "If Daniel was telling John to do something, he would do it."

Despite what was happening, the woman claimed O'Neill was "surprisingly quite calm".

As the violence continued, the trial heard O'Neill kicked her in the ribs, the victim's nose ended up swollen and an ear-ring "ripped out".

Giving evidence behind screens, she told the court: "I was scared. I was asking him to stop, but he was not at all.

"He started getting more angrier, the more it went on."

The woman also spoke of both attackers being armed with a knife at one stage.

She then had a pillow case pulled over her head and she was wrapped in a polythene sheet.

The victim further claimed - in an accusation deleted by jurors - that she also had bleached poured into her mouth.

There was a threat that she would "be put into deep water" or being left with aggressive dogs "who had not been fed for four days".

The woman stated she felt as if the ordeal last hours.

There was a claim heard that she had once allegedly stolen from O'Neill.

The court heard the attackers eventually became "paranoid" that her friend may have alerted police.

They untied the victim, but still kept her at the flat for a spell.

She was later let go that morning although was warned she would be "killed" if she reported them.

It was only after the traumatised victim told another woman she knew that police were called.

The victim told the trial she suffered a number of injuries including to her ribs, nose and eyes.

O'Neill and Sweeney were convicted of assault and abduction following a trial.

Both already had lengthy criminal records - Sweeney had two previous high court convictions for violence.

Lord Arthurson jailed the pair for six years each.

He stated O'Neill had been the "principal actor" in the crime with Sweeney his "wiling assistant".

The judge also imposed a non-harassment order banning the pair from contacting the woman indefinitely.

Morrison, 32, had also faced the same charge, but jurors found her not guilty.

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