‘Bully’ held former partner by throat in drunken attack
HE ALSO KICKED VICTIM IN HEAD WHILE CHILD, ONE, WAS PRESENT
A DRUNKEN bully held his hands around his partner’s throat for five seconds during a terrifying attack.
Darren Stokes downed beer and vodka before the onslaught of violence where he kicked her above her eye and slapped her in the face in front of a oneyear-old child at an address in Nottinghamshire.
Stokes told the woman he wanted to kill and strangle her, before grabbing her throat and cutting off her air supply on October 2 this year. He hit her against a wall, slapped her and threw her phone at her, hitting her lip, Nottingham Crown Court was told yesterday.
After Stokes went to bed, the traumatised woman waited six hours before she snuck out of the house, leaving the child behind. She went to a friend’s house and called the police. She had injuries to her face, a nasty black eye and bruising to her neck.
Her statement was addressed directly to Stokes, and it said: “When I tried to leave you, you reeled me back in, and never let me leave.”
Stokes has previous convictions for threatening behaviour, common assaults, battery, burglary, and persistent driving offences, said Jonathon Dee, prosecuting. The latest offences, which he admitted, were for assault, causing bodily harm, and intentional strangulation.
He received a five-year restraining order to stay away from the victim, and an 18-month prison sentence concurrently on each charge, suspended for two years. He will be subject to a sixmonth alcohol treatment requirement, 15 rehabilitation days and 31 sessions of a “building better relationships” course.
Judge Stuart Rafferty KC told a snivelling Stokes in the dock: “Men who bully women are not fit to be called men whatever problem they have. Don’t you dare do it again.”
Mitigating, Stephen Kemp said 33-year-old Stokes, of Staunton Drive, Sherwood, began drinking heavily after his stepfather died in April this year. By August, Stokes’s mood had deteriorated further after he was assaulted and suffered a bleed on the brain.
His spiral into drinking led to more arguments with his partner. “Neither party wishes to resume this relationship. It’s over,” the court was told.