Partner jailed for ‘brutal’ assault after day drinking

A MAN subjected his partner to a “brutal” assault after a day spent drinking vodka, a court has heard.

Karl Oxenham punched his victim, held a knife to her throat, hit her in the face with a frying pan, and then barricaded her in the kitchen.

Sending him to prison, a judge told him that with people living together in often difficult circumstances during the coronavrus lockdown, the message had to be heard that domestic violence will not be tolerated.

Swansea Crown Court heard the attack took place on the evening of May 1 this year at the victim’s home in Llanelli.

Ashanti-Jade Walton, prosecuting, said the defendant had been consuming vodka all day and, concerned that he was becoming “argumentative”, the woman asked him to go for a walk around 5pm.

Oxenham didn’t return for some two-and-a-half hours, and when he did he appeared to be in a worse state than when he left. The court heard that a neighbour had found the 54-year-old “staggering” around the area, and brought him home. A short time later Oxenham smashed the victim’s mobile phone by throwing it across the room, and then began his assault on her

Miss Walton said the defendant slapped and punched the woman, held a kitchen knife to her throat, and then hit her to the face with a frying pan. The court heard he struck his victim with such force that the pan was damaged. He then barricaded the woman into the kitchen with chairs but she managed to escape, and fled the property.

The prosecutor said police had already been called by concerned neighbours who had heard the disturbance, and officers were soon on the scene.

When the defendant opened the front door to police he was holding a glass bottle - after a number of instructions to put the bottle down went unheeded, officers used their Pava spray to incapacitate him, take him to the ground, and arrest him. He subsequently gave a “no comment” interview. The court heard the victim suffered swelling and bruising to the face, a split eyebrow, a cut to the nose, and suspected fractured fingers.

In an impact statement, the woman said she had been “very frightened” by the incident. She said she knew the defendant wouldn’t hurt her when sober, but in the drunken state he had been in on the night in question she didn’t know what he was capable of.

Oxenham, of Stafford Street, Llanelli, had previously pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm, and to criminal damage - smashing the phone - when he appeared in the dock via videolink for sentencing.

The court heard he has four previous convictions for six offences including for battery, criminal damage, being drunk and disorderly, and assaulting a police officer - these last two offences had seen an intoxicated Oxenham trying to “goad” people in the street into fighting him, then butting the PC who tried to deal with him.

Tom Scapens, for Oxenham, conceded the assault of May 1 had been a “terrible and despicable” offence. He said the defendant had no convictions from the time he was a young man until the year 2016 when his wife - a woman described as his “rock” - had passed away, and he had turned to . drink.

Judge Paul Thomas QC told Oxenham he had “lost all self-control” and set upon his girlfriend “in a quite brutal way”, subjecting her to a sustained assault. The judge said in the current coronavirus lockdown people were living together in often difficult circumstances and “in this particular time in our shared history the message needs to get out that domestic violence will not be tolerated”.

Giving Oxenham a onethird discount for his guilty pleas, he sentenced him to 20 months in prison - the defendant will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. The defendant was also made the subject of a restraining order banning him from contacting his victim indefinitely.