Dad battered his ex as she cradled their baby
AVIOLENT dad battered his ex-girlfriend while she was holding their baby in her arms.
Liam Wallace-Clark had only met his 13-month-old daughter for the first time that day because he had been in prison.
But he repeatedly punched his former partner, who the Visiter has chosen not to name, in the face, after she tried to call police due to his intimidating behaviour.
The 33-year-old then “cornered” her on a couch and said: “If you’re sending me to jail I might as well kill you.”
Liverpool Crown Court heard Wallace-Clark and his former partner had known each other since December 2018.
Frank Dillon, prosecuting, said they had a “very short, three-week relationship”, during which she fell pregnant, before Wallace-Clark was sent to prison.
On Wednesday, October 7, 2020, the mum, her child and her friend met Wallace-Clark in Southport town centre.
Mr Dillon said they went to a Wetherspoons pub on Neville Street, where Wallace-Clark began to stare at both women, making them feel “intimidated”.
Eventually the court heard Wallace-Clark was said to have made threats to staff and was escorted out of the pub.
The court heard at around 10pm, Wallace-Clark rang his victim to say he couldn’t get a train home and repeatedly asked whether he could stay the night.
Mr Dillon said she allowed him to stay in her spare room, under the agreement he didn’t enter the living room, where she remained with her friend.
However, Wallace-Clark came into the room and started to argue with his victim, who told him to leave and said she would call the police.
Mr Dillon said the two women put a couch against the living room door, but Wallace-Clark “barged” in, saying “please don’t ring the police”, and took a mobile phone out of her hand.
He said: “The defendant started to punch [his victim] to the face with his fists. She had her baby in her arms at the time.
“He also started to kick her friend and punched her a number of times to the head as she tried to intervene.”
The court heard he continued to punch his victim on the couch, when he said: “If you’re sending me to jail I might as well kill you.”
Mr Dillon said: “He then stopped and said ‘f*** this, I’m going to get a knife, you two are dead’.”
He said the attacker went into the kitchen and the victims “barricaded” the door with the couch and rang police.
After failing to force his way in, Wallace-Clark fled and had left the scene before officers arrived.
Photos revealed his victim suffered lumps to her forehead, right eye and the back of her head; a hole in one lip; and a mark to her back.
She suffered headaches so went to hospital a day or so later, where she underwent a brain scan and was advised she had a sprained neck and concussion.
Photos also showed her friend’s injuries, including a large lump to the back of her head.
Wallace-Clark was voluntarily interviewed by police last February, when he gave a no comment interview.
He denied assault causing actual bodily harm against his victim, common assault against her friend, threatening to kill both women, and witness intimidation, after allegedly threatening to burn down both his victim and her mother’s property.
But on the opening day of a trial last July, he admitted the two assaults, encompassing the threats on the basis they were not intended to cause the women to believe they would be carried out.
Following discussions with the two women, these pleas were accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service, which dropped the two charges of threatening to kill and the charge of witness intimidation.
Wallace-Clark, who has 20 previous convictions for 29 offences, also admitted breach of bail, after he skipped his sentencing and spent around six months on the run.
Damian Nolan, defending, explained why his client, of Wulfstan Street, London, was “at large for so long”.
He said Wallace-Clark “was fearful about his safety because of people he was aware were in a prison to which this court sends sentenced defendants”.
Mr Nolan accepted what happened was “very unpleasant” and said his client recognised he was culpable.
He said “thankfully” the injuries suffered by the victims were short lived and they would have made a full recovery.
Wallace-Clark, appearing via video link from HMP Preston, moaned “agh this is b ***** ks” when Recorder David O’Mahony recounted his previous convictions for violence.
They include inflicting grievous bodily harm and conspiracy to rob in 2007; common assault in 2010; assault causing actual bodily harm in 2013; and inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent and battery in 2014.
The judge said aggravating features of the case also included the fact the attack was in a domestic context, “which makes all offences more serious”.
Recorder O’Mahony said: “There was a presence of a child, who was in [her mother’s] arms at the time you attacked her. There was an attempt to prevent her calling for assistance.”
He jailed Wallace-Clark for 59 weeks in total - around 13 and a half months.
The judge also made indefinite restraining orders preventing Wallace-Clark from contacting his two victims.