Man hit wife with boulder during hospital visit
AMAN struck his wife on the head with a ‘large boulder’ as she visited him in hospital, a court heard.
Peter Wachala, 59, attacked his wife of 30 years Lynn, 57, in an ornamental garden at Blackpool Victoria Hospital.
Preston Crown Court heard that on September 4, Wachala, who was in an ‘agitated state’ and had been stubbing cigarettes out on his palm, suddenly grabbed his wife by the hair and smashed her face on to a rock before picking up a stone and bringing it down on the top of her head.
The couple, who lived in Accrington for 28 years after their marriage, moved to Cleveleys two years ago.
Wachala was originally charged with attempted murder but pleaded guilty an earlier hearing to a lesser charge of assault causing actual bodily harm.
Prosecuting, Peter Barr, said: “The couple were happily married with no police involvement or domestic violence.
“Around Christmas, 2016 his mood seemed to change and he began being possessive and accusing Mrs Wachala of having affairs with numerous men.
“His behaviour became more erratic and his accu- sations more frequent.
“He asked her to take a lie detector test, which she did and passed but then claimed the results were fixed.”
The court heard that in June 2017 Wachala was diagnosed with depression.
On September 2 he claimed to have taken an overdose of paracetamol and that evening cut himself on his arm.
He was being treated for that injury when the attack happened.
Mr Barr, said: “He asked Mrs Wachala to go outside to a paved area with trees and rocks and told her he didn’t want to be in hospital.
“He accused her of ‘doing this to punish me’ before suddenly grabbing her hair and bashed her mouth on to a rock on the floor.”
Wachala was restrained by hospital staff after he then picked up what witnesses described as a large boulder and struck his wife.
Mrs Wachala sustained head, mouth and arm injuries and has since recovered.
The court heard from Dr Matthew Appleyard, a consultant psychiatrist at The Guild, a medium secure hospital where Wachala had been transferred under an interim hospital order while on remand.
He said Wachala had been diagnosed with persistent delusional disorder
He said that as a patient he had responded well to treatment and Mrs Wachala regularly visits him at the unit.
Sentencing, His Honour Judge Andrew Woolman imposed a Section 41 Hospital Order on Wachala.