Estranged husband attacked his wife with a baseball bat
AN ESTRANGED husband broke into his wife’s home and beat her with a baseball bat in a savage night-time attack.
Dean Shaw, 38, has a history of violence and previously threatened to throw acid in his wife’s face, Cardiff Crown Court heard yesterday.
Judge Eleri Rees, jailing Shaw for eight years as part of an extended 12-year sentence, said: “This was a sustained and repeated assault on a vulnerable woman in her own home at night.”
The court heard the attack happened around 10pm on April 13 at the victim’s home in Sully, near Barry.
Michael Jones, prosecuting, said the defendant had been in a relationship with Kyli Shaw for about four years and married for two years.
He said: “This case concerns a grave incident of pre-planned and deliberate violence.”
The court heard Ms Shaw was in her living-room with a friend when she heard a loud noise.
Mr Jones said: “She heard a loud bang and glass smashing.”
The friend fled. Prosecutors allege the attacker smashed a glass panel in the door to let himself in.
Mr Jones added: “The defendant came into the living-room wielding a baseball bat.”
The court heard Shaw told his wife: “I’m going to f ****** kill you.”
In a statement, Ms Shaw recalled she went into “total shock” and “froze” as her husband screamed at her.
The prosecutor said: “He repeatedly raised the bat and struck her deliberately and forcefully to her head.”
Ms Shaw believes she was struck about 10 times and almost blacked out.
A neighbour called 999 and emergency services arrived around 10.15pm, observing the victim was shaking and crying.
She was taken to the University Hospital of Wales, in Cardiff, where she was treated for wounds to her scalp and a fracture to her arm.
Shaw was arrested and denied being responsible for the attack, replying to the police caution: “What are you talking about?”
Prosecutors said he had been before the courts on 30 previous offences and was in breach of both a suspended sentence and conditional discharge. He was jailed for four months in 2004 for assault occasioning actual bodily harm after butting an ex-girlfriend.
He received a suspended sentence in October last year for harassing his wife by sending her a message saying: “You’re a w **** . It is going to be the beginning of your end.”
In the same month he received a conditional discharge for threatening to throw acid in her face.
Mr Jones said: “This clearly caused her alarm and distress.”
He added: “The court orders meant little, if anything, to this defendant.”
Prosecutors argued aggravating features included the fact the victim was alone and in her own home.
Mr Jones said: “This was a sustained and repeated assault with a significant degree of pre-meditation.”
Shaw, from Ewbank Close, Barry, admitted wounding with intent, possessing an offensive weapon and breaching a restraining order.
Kevin Seal, defending, said his client turned to drink and drugs when the marriage broke down and was “desperate” to rekindle the relationship. Mr Seal added: “My client accepts he was jealous. He accepts he was stupid.”
An alternative count of attempted murder was ordered to lie on file.
The judge passed a 12-year extended sentence, made up of an eightyear jail term and four-year extended licence period.