MAN ATTACKED HIS GIRLFRIEND WITH HAMMER
ARECENTLY released prisoner attacked his pregnant girlfriend with a claw hammer and ordered her to tell medical staff she had fallen down the stairs.
Wayne Mathias would not let his partner call 999, but went to hospital with her to make sure she lied to doctors, then knocked her unconscious when she told the truth.
Sentencing him at Cardiff Crown Court, Judge David Wynn Morgan described the claw hammer as “a very dangerous weapon”.
The court heard the incident happened at her home in Grangetown, Cardiff, during the early hours of November 28 last year.
Jeffrey Jones, prosecuting, said the couple began their relationship in 2016 and had a child together, with a second on the way.
The defendant was released from prison in July 2019 and went to stay at Mandeville House Probation Hostel. In August, he was allowed to stay with his partner.
Prosecutors said he persuaded her to let him stay, even though she could see he had been using drugs, by telling her he had nowhere else to go.
Mr Jones told the court Mathias thought that meant they could sleep in the same bed, despite her showing him to a separate one.
He added: “He would not accept the relationship was over.”
He said the defendant grabbed the woman’s neck and she bit him to try to get away. She tried to call for help but he smashed her phone.
Mr Jones said: “There was a claw hammer in the room. He armed himself with it and hit her to her head.”
The woman felt “extreme pain” and thought he hit her about 10 times to her head and back. She described the blows as “forceful”.
Mr Jones added: “She thought the severity of the attack was such she could lose her life.”
The court heard he wounded her arms as she put them up to try to protect her head. She was in the early stages of pregnancy at the time.
She told him she needed to go to hospital but he would not let her ring 999, instead calling his mother. He told the woman to say she had fallen down the stairs.
Prosecutors said he insisted on going to A&E to make sure she “stuck to the script” and they went to the University Hospital of Wales.
The woman waited for treatment and Mathias tried to “call her bluff” when she said she did not want to get back together by telling her to go to reception and tell them the truth about what had happened.
Mr Jones said she did tell the truth and the defendant punched her from behind, knocking her to the floor and causing her to hit her head and fall unconscious.
He ran off, chased by security staff, who eventually caught him in Maindy. When he was confronted he threatened to stab one of them in the eye with a dirty needle.
Police arrived and Mathias was arrested. When he was interviewed he denied having a hammer but accepted punching his partner in A&E, stating he lost his temper.
The woman was treated for two hammer wounds to her scalp, which were glued. She described significant bruising and swelling to her arm and also had puncture wounds.
Mr Jones showed the judge photographs of the hammer and the blood spots on the weapon, floor and clothes. He said: “It is perhaps a miracle she did not sustain more serious injury.”
He added: “This defendant has a long criminal record. He has been before the courts on many occasions.”
The court heard Mathias had 73 previous offences on his record, including affray, burglary and possessing a blade.
He was jailed in 2017 for four years and 11 months for burglary and grievous bodily harm in a dwelling. He is on recall and due to be released in November 2021.
Mathias, 34, who was staying at Mandeville House Probation Hostel in Riverside, Cardiff, admitted attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm with intent. He also admitted causing criminal damage and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Adam Sharp, defending, said his client was “truly sorry” for what he had done, adding: “However heinous his actions were, there is some measure of remorse.”
He pointed out he had no previous convictions for violence towards women.
Mr Sharp said Mathias had a lifelong addiction to heroin and cocaine and problems controlling anger and emotions. He became addicted to steroids after using the gym in prison.
Judge Wynn Morgan described the attack as “sustained and repeated” and noted the final blow was so hard it caused the woman to lose consciousness.
He jailed Mathias for five years, to start from the end of the licence period he is serving, and made an order for the hammer to be destroyed.
If you or someone you know has been affected by violence, visit the Live Fear Free website or call the helpline on 0808 80 10 800.