Man held blade to throat of pregnant partner and told her he would kill her

A WOMAN-beater held a knife to his pregnant partner’s throat and told her “you have not seen the nasty Gaz yet” before threatening to end her life with it.

Derby Crown Court heard Garry Slater had only been in a relationship with the victim for six weeks before he resorted to using violence against her.

After squeezing her throat until she was unable to breathe on the first occasion, he then made the threats to kill her with the blade on the second.

Days later, the 49-year-old then attacked her again when he became angry that his drug dealer had not turned up.

Jailing the defendant for 28 months, Judge Robert Egbuna said: “You effectively exploded and it is clear that your behaviour must have been extremely frightening for your partner.

“It is difficult to imagine how someone reacts when viewing someone in rage and looking into their eyes. You were aware she was pregnant and with jealously brought to the forefront, you decided you would take a knife and place it to the side of her throat saying you would kill her. That must have been a terrifying ordeal.”

James Bide-Thomas, prosecuting, said for the first four weeks of the relationship there were no issues but she became aware he was taking drugs.

He said the first incident, on June 26 of this year, saw the defendant push her to the floor, take hold of her around the throat and squeeze until she could no longer breathe before letting go.

Mr Bide-Thomas said the most serious assault happened days later when she found out she was pregnant, told Slater and he accused her of cheating on him.

He said: “He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to the floor. He then held a knife under her chin, with the blade touching the skin and said to her ‘you have not met nasty Gaz yet, now you have, I am going kill you with this ******* knife’.”

The prosecutor said the victim managed to get outside but that was not the end of the violence.

He said: “On July 5, the defendant’s drug dealer failed to attend and the defendant became angry and pushed her (the victim) to the floor several times and grabbed her wrists before leaving the property.”

Mr Bide-Thomas said Slater, of Handley Road, New Whittington, was arrested and in interview denied any of the incidents happened. But he later pleaded guilty to making threats to kill and two counts of common assault.

He has what the prosecutor called “a lengthy antecedent history”, meaning previous convictions.

Joe Harvey, mitigating, said his client has “a number of children aged 16 to 21”.

He said: “The role model he has set for them has been nothing short of shocking and that is something he wants to put a stop to. At the age of 49 he has got to the point where something needs to change in his life otherwise he will spend the rest of it in prison. If ever there was a poster child for other people not to use drugs or alcohol Mr Slater accepts he is it.”

Judge Egbuna did not hand the defendant a restraining order as the woman he assaulted does not want one.