Armed police were needed to arrest man after assault
ARMED police were dispatched to a house to deal with a man who was “out of control” and assaulting his fiancee.
Gary Evans had grabbed his partner by the hair and then kicked, punched and throttled her during the attack at the home they shared.
The assault only ended when a concerned neighbour called the police – but such was the level of aggression the defendant exhibited, armed units were requested as backup.
Swansea Crown Court heard Evans has a history of violent offending including robberies, and assaults on his partner. In a statement to the court his now former fiancee said she had given him chances in the past but now realises she is “worth more than being somebody’s punchbag”.
Tom Scapens, prosecuting, said violence erupted at the couple’s Llanelli home on the morning of October 30 last year. He said the woman described how Evans pulled her hair with such force it felt like her scalp was being ripped. The defendant then threw the woman to the floor, got on top of her, and began to choke her as she was “clawing” at his face trying to get him off.
The court was told a neighbour heard the disturbance and called the police, and when they knocked on the door Evans turned his aggression to the officers. He shouted at them, refused to let them in, and began butting and kicking the door. Mr Scapens said the defendant’s fiancee could be seen at a window pleading for help.
Due to Evans’ behaviour, armed police were deployed and the defendant was subsequently arrested.
The victim was taken to Llanelli’s Prince Phillip Hospital suffering with bruising and tenderness to the face, back, pelvis and arms, and underwent an MRI scan because of concerns about an existing injury.
In his police interview Evans denied he had done anything wrong, claiming his fiancee had been the aggressor and suggesting the injuries she suffered may have been self-inflicted or caused when she fell off her bike.
In a victim impact statement which was read to the court, the woman said the assault had impacted her mental wellbeing and left her struggling to sleep. She said she had felt under Evans’ control and had given him chances in the past but now realised she was “worth more than being somebody’s punchbag”.
Gary Douglas Evans, 40, of Llys y Fran, Llanelli, had previously pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has 21 previous convictions for 30 offences including two for ABH, possession of an offensive weapon, an attempted knifepoint robbery of a shop worker, and a street robbery – an attack for which he was sentenced to five years in prison in 2011. Evans also has previous convictions for assaulting his fiancee.
Nicola Powell, for Evans, said the defendant and his fiancee had been in a “turbulent” relationship, which both parties now seemed to accept was not a healthy one. She said Evans had suffered violence at the hands of
his father when growing up, and it may be that the consequences of those experiences were the defendant’s misuse of alcohol and drugs and the resulting behaviour that went with that.
Judge Catherine Richards said it was an indication of how “out of control” the defendant had been that police felt it necessary to deploy armed officers to the scene.
Giving the defendant a 20% discount for his guilty pleas, the judge sentenced him to 26 months in prison. Evans will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence.