Assault charge against Grant Tapper’s girlfriend withdrawn

A woman charged with assaulting the man who beat her with a coffee table had her charge withdrawn in provincial court Monday.

The court heard the Crown was withdrawing the charge since it was “not in the public interest to proceed” with it.

The woman was charged with assaulting her then-boyfriend, Grant Tapper, during an altercation in the east end of St. John’s March 13. Tapper was also charged, and last month was sentenced to nine months in jail for assaulting the woman with a heavy wooden coffee table, threatening to kill her puppies and breaching court orders.

Tapper, who has a significant history of domestic violence and other crimes, had pleaded not guilty to the charges. During his trial, the court heard the couple had begun arguing at a pool hall, after Tapper had used the woman’s money to buy a drink for another woman. Later, at home, Tapper grew angry when the woman tried to get him to leave; she testified that he choked, kicked, slapped, threw and struck her.

She said Tapper went into the bedroom and grabbed one of her 11-week old Rottweiler puppies, making a twisting motion on the dog’s body and threatening to kill it. The woman’s exhusband, whom she said helped her escape the apartment to call police, told the court he had witnessed the violence, and had seen Tapper run the bath, and thought he was going to drown the puppies.

An RNC officer testified that Tapper had asked him when he arrived, “How long will I spend in jail for drowning puppies?” Later, Tapper told him, “Do you actually think I would kill puppies?”

As part of his sentence, Tapper is banned from having any contact with the woman and must undergo counselling for domestic violence and anger management.