Attack with drawer left woman with brain bruise
MAN WANTED TO HURT HER AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, COURT HEARS
A THUG left his girlfriend with bruising to her brain after throwing a drawer at her head as he “deliberately tried to hurt her as much as he possibly could”.
Christopher Lillico had already stamped on and kicked the terrified victim at her home when he used the piece of furniture as a weapon.
Newcastle Crown Court heard the victim even considered jumping from a second-floor window to escape the violence but the 23-year-old attacker pulled her back.
She told police afterwards: “I had begun fearing for my life. I knew there was no way out.
“The assault happened over a short period of time but I know I am going to be left with a lifetime of trauma.”
The court heard the woman suffered bruising to her face and body, two black eyes and a broken nose.
A bruise on her brain has left her with memory problems.
Lillico, of Hedgehope Walk, Blyth, admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent and has been jailed for eight years and one month. He was also given a lifelong restraining order to stay away from the woman.
The court heard the couple, who got together last summer, had been drinking together at the woman’s home when a row broke out in March.
Lillico started by pulling his victim to the floor, where he “kicked her repeatedly to the right side, to her rib area”.
The court heard Lillico called his victim vile and insulting names during the attack.
Prosecutor Kevin Wardlaw said: “He began punching her to the right side of the face, particularly her eyes and nose.” Mr Wardlaw said the woman started banging on her front door after Lillico locked it and pocketed the key, in the hope a neighbour might hear and alert the police.
He added: “The defendant grabbed her by the hand and pulled her back again with such force it caused her to fall to the floor.
“The assault continued and he began stamping on her chest and stomach area.
“He dragged her into a front bedroom. He went across to a chest of drawers and removed one of the drawers from it.
“He held it up, screaming and shouting towards her. He then threw the drawer towards her. It struck her on the back of the head, causing a wound.
“There is no doubt he deliberately was trying to hurt her as much as he possibly could.”
The court heard the victim managed to get to a second bedroom, while Lillico caused damage inside the property.
Mr Wardlaw said: “She gave serious consideration to jumping from the second-floor window in order to get away.”
The court heard when Lillico realised what the woman was doing, he “dragged her away from the ledge”.
She described the rest of what happened as a “bit of a blur”.
Richard Bloomfield, defending, said Lillico has only three previous convictions.