Ex-soldier jailed for vicious attack
AFORMER solider with posttraumatic stress disorder subjected a friend to a vicious four-hour assault which included repeatedly punching and kicking the man, slamming a heavy glass ashtray into his head, and putting him in choke holds.
Damien Richard Davies’ victim had to “play dead” while being throttled by the ex-Welsh Guardsman in a desperate bid to save himself.
He was left with so many bruises from the beating it was impossible for medics to record them all on a diagram of his body.
Swansea Crown Court heard 32-year-old Davies had convictions for assaults on two previous partners, one of whom he had also put in a “choke hold”.
John Hipkin, prosecuting, said Davies had known his victim for around three years, and while they were not in a relationship it was said they had “passed the friendship stage”.
On December 11 last year Davies attended his grandmother’s funeral, and that evening went to his friend’s flat on The Strand in Swansea.
The court heard the ex-serviceman was “confrontational”, and began goading his friend.
Davies then pushed him onto the sofa and sat astride him, putting his hands around his neck and then punching him to the face.
Mr Hikpin said the victim remained “passive”, and did not react to the assault.
The court heard Davies then began to rain blows down on the man, the attack only stopping when the defendant exhausted himself from all the punching. After taking a breather, Davies resumed the attack - this time he kicked as well as punched the man, landing blows on his face, head, back and chest.
The prosecutor said the victim thought Davies was going to kill him.
However that did not end the assault.
Mr Hipkin said Davies then grabbed a heavy glass ashtray and, in the defendant’s words “drove it into the back of his head” before picking up a speaker from a stereo and hitting him with that too.
Davies then put his friend into a choke hold, “squeezing to the point of suffocation” - the victim “pretended to be dead” to get his attacker to let go, something that was to be repeated another three times.
The ordeal lasted between three and four hours, and only came to an end when the couple in the neighbouring flat called the police following what they said sounded like “someone being killed”.
When the neighbours saw the victim, they said he “had a face like a balloon”.
The former Guardsman fled the scene after the couple knocked on the door, and his victim was taken to hospital.
The court heard the man had extensive bruising all over his face, arms, legs and torso, with too many wounds for medics to be able to record them all on a body diagram. He had blood in his ears and nose, a broken nose, and “extensive and concerning swelling” on his forehead for which he was subsequently given antibiotics because of fears the build-up of blood may become infected.
In an impact statement read to court, the victim said the incident had left him feeling “too scared to go out, and too scared to stay in” and had had a “massive impact” on him and his family.
Davies, of Rosehill Terrace, Mount Pleasant, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm with intent when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.
The court heard he had two previous convictions for assaulting previous partners.
Dan Griffiths, for Davies, said: “The defendant’s time in the armed forces clearly adversely impacted on his mental health.”
Judge William Gaskell said it was to the defendant’s credit that he had served his country in the Army, and said that during his time in the armed forces had experienced “a number of disturbing incidents” and witnessed the deaths of friends.
The judge imposed a seven-year sentence comprising five years in custody, with an extended two-year licence period.
Davies cried and clutched a large cross that hung around his neck as the sentence was passed.