Grieving Leon Townsend beat up his partner after she got the bathroom floor wet when getting out the bath. The 57-year-old ‘flipped’ when the woman, who he met online, spilt some water on the floor.
He carried on drinking and she told him to stop as he had work the next morning. But he butted her and banged her head against cupboards before punching and kicking her.
Now Townsend has been handed a two-year community order and hit with a £1,064 court bill at North Staffordshire Justice Centre. Prosecutor Hannah Baddeley said Townsend and his victim were in a relationship for four to five months after meeting online.
READ: Terrified woman begged for life as raging partner strangled her on bed
Miss Baddeley said the couple spent weekends together and the assault happened when the victim stayed at his home for the first time. Miss Baddeley said: “They had been drinking in the day and in the evening they went to have a bath. Some water was spilt. He flipped out.
“He carried on drinking. The injured party challenged him about his drinking. He started to shout and assaulted her. He head-butted her and grabbed her neck and pushed it into the sink. He banged her head on cupboards. She was punched and kicked to her ribs, head and neck.”
The court heard the woman was left with pain to her body and face.
In a victim statement the woman said her life changed following the assault. She said: “He has stayed at mine. The first time I visited him he turned into a monster at the drop of a hat, a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
She said she went to hospital after the assault and could not stop crying. She added: “My life has been turned upside down for putting a wet foot on a bathroom floor and asking him not to have another drink as he was at work at 6am.
“I suffered great pain to my jaw and I had to have everything blended.”
In his police interview Townsend said he asked her to clean up and the victim started shouting and swearing at him. He tried to calm her down. He said she was aggressive towards him. He denied being aggressive. He denied assaulting her. He said he was not a violent person. He said he pushed her off him in self-defence and added she was the aggressor. He said she flipped and she was drunk and not him.
Townsend, of Heybridge Close, Lower Tean, denied assault occasioning actual bodily harm but was convicted of the charge after a trial on June 2.
Joanne Corbett, mitigating, said Townsend maintains his innocence. She said: “He was in a relationship with this woman and everything was fine. He had lost his mother two months earlier. He was grieving. Events overtook him because of the grief and alcohol.”
Miss Corbett added that Townsend is a dad and grandad and is in full-time work.
As part of the order Townsend must complete a rehabilitation activity requirement for 20 days, the Building Better Relationships programme and 250 hours unpaid work.
He was ordered to pay £250 compensation, £700 costs and a £114 surcharge. And he was made the subject of a restraining order which prevents him contacting his victim for three years.
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