Ex-lover shoved woman over in car park clash
VICTIM CLAIMED MAN WAS ANGRY OVER SEX REBUKE
The victim was supposed to be celebrating her birthday that day but ended up in a dazed state following the attack outside Aldi in Milnsbridge.
The 45-year-old claimed that her ex, Paul Hanson, was angry because she refused to have sex with him.
He had pleaded not guilty to assault by beating but was found guilty following a trial at Kirklees Magistrates’ Court.
Prosecutor Robert Campbell said that the couple were in a relationship some years previously but had not seen each other for some time.
Then on July 28 she came out of the Scar Lane supermarket with bags of shopping and was walking towards her car when she spotted Hanson.
Mr Campbell told the Huddersfield court : “The defendant came over to her and the next thing she knew she was on the ground.
“When she came to her senses she was being pulled about by the defendant.
“A witness was pulling out of the Aldi car park and could hear shouting between the couple.
“She saw the defendant approach the complainant from his vehicle and push her over to the ground.”
In evidence, the victim said that she was crossing the road after leaving the supermarket and didn’t remember anything other than ending up on the ground.
She said the next thing she knew she turned around, saw 49-yearold Hanson and realised that he had attacked her.
The victim said she had been celebrating her birthday the previous night at her Milnsbridge home and felt that Hanson didn’t like the fact that he wasn’t invited.
She told the court : “I was daydreaming with my carrier bags and I woke up on the floor.
“I had all stones and grit in my hands and knees.
“He pushed me because I wouldn’t have sex with him. I haven’t touched him in four years.
“He’s left his place to come and get me on purpose. He threw me to the floor.”
A female witness testified that shortly before 3pm she was driving home from the Aldi store when she noticed an altercation to her left.
She heard loud shouting and swearing and saw Hanson pushing his victim to the floor and then kick her in the stomach.
The witness said that someone else went to her aid and she called police when she got home.
Hanson refused to answer any questions put to him in his police interview. But in his evidence in court he accused the victim of marching up to him “swinging her shopping and effing and blinding.”
He added: “One of the bags burst and the shopping came out.
“She followed me to my car and I thought she was going to damage it so I turned around and gave her a shove.”
Hanson, of Arnold Street in Birkby, claimed that his ex owed him £100 and had decided to ask her about it when he came upon her car as he drove past.
He claimed he pushed her in self-defence because she was hitting him with her bags ‘aggressively’.
District Judge Michael Fanning said that while the former couple presented two different versions of what happened, he found the independent witness credible as she came across as a “calm and neutral observer.”
Finding Hanson guilty of assault he told him : “You’ve lost your temper and there’s an element of provocation but you shouldn’t have reacted in the way you did.”
He fined him £450 and ordered him to pay the victim £100 compensation. He has to pay £400 prosecution costs and £45 victim surcharge, with Judge Fanning adding: “This loss of temper has cost you £995.”