A man drunkenly assaulted his girlfriend during an argument on what should have been a romantic anniversary trip.
Jonathan Roscilli recklessly assaulted the woman on the trip to Morecambe when a row broke out in their accommodation at the Strathmore Hotel. The pair visited the seaside resort to celebrate five years together on March 17.
But the celebratory getaway quickly turned into a drunken and violent night after Roscilli, 32, downed at least five cans of high strength beer. The pair began to argue, though the source of that fallout remains unclear, LancsLive reports.
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According to Roscilli, he was unhappy that his girlfriend wanted to smoke a joint in the bathroom while the woman, who suffers with epilepsy, said she actually went into the bathroom to hide from him as he had already become angry. The incident ended up with the woman suffering a head injury after Roscilli, of Silverdale Sidings, Silverdale, barged through the door.
He admitted to assault occasioning ABH but did so on the basis he accidentally hit her with the door as he forced his way in. The victim was taken to hospital while Roscilli took their dog and left the room. The prosecution rejected this and a trial of issue was held at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.
Roscilli's case was that he heard her throw his electric toothbrush down the toilet. He accepted barging in the bathroom and said the door struck her and knocked her into the shower. He accepted his actions were reckless. But the prosecution case was that he deliberately assaulted his partner. It was alleged he forced his way into the bathroom, grabbed her head and banged it against the walls and shower screen, causing the screen to break.
Giving evidence the woman said Roscilli was agitated and angry when walking back to the hotel. She said: "He said he was going to kill me. I locked myself in the bathroom. He broke the door down. I was standing by the sink. It was quite a small bathroom. He grabbed my head with both hands and smashed it on the wall by the sink and by the shower. I pretended to be passed out."
Under cross examination from Paul Cliff, representing Roscilli, the woman claimed he had been drinking all day. She said: "He was drinking very strong beers. One of them was 10 per cent." She denied she was affected by alcohol and said they argued when in the hotel room but denied she wanted to smoke a joint. She said: "I went to the bathroom because he was getting aggressive."
She denied dropping his electric toothbrush and deodorant in the toilet and conceded she did not know if the door broke or not but she maintained she had shut the door.
Mr Cliff said: "He did come through the door quickly with some force but it is not accepted it was broken. But he did come through it quickly and the door struck you and pushed you back into the shower behind you."
Roscilli told the court he had about four drinks of craft beer which were about 6.5 per cent. He said his partner wanted to smoke a spliff in the hotel room and they started rowing about it. "I told her I did not like her doing it," he said. "We were both shouting. She stormed into the bathroom. I heard my electric toothbrush and something else going down the toilet.
"I stormed into the bathroom. It was not locked. The door struck her. I threw a mug at the TV. I put my toothbrush and deodorant back in the bag."
He said as he left the room members of staff were at the door. "I said, 'She is a psycho, I need to get away from her'," said Roscilli. "I left the hotel and stayed in the car." Under cross-examination from prosecutor Antony Longworth, Roscilli conceded his partner was in 'quite a vulnerable state'. He accepted he was drunk and angry but denied being out of control.
Mr Longworth said: "You took your frustration out on her by smashing your way into the bathroom where she had sought refuge. You took her head and smashed it into the wall and by smashing it into the shower door. You left her apparently unconscious on the floor." Roscilli denied that account and added: "She was on her feet when I left."
In his closing speech, Mr Cliff said the victim exaggerated the events. He said the beer was not 10 per cent and the door was not broken down as there was no damage to the lock or door frame. He added the victim called Roscilli from the hospital and said he had broken her pelvis which was another exaggeration.
Judge Graeme Smith said: "The prosecution case is that the defendant deliberately banged her head against the shower causing the shower door to break and causing her to fall. She said she had locked the door and he banged her forehead against the wall.
"The defendant's case is he entered the bathroom as he heard her throwing his electric toothbrush down the toilet. The door was not locked. He accepts it struck her and knocked her into the shower screen. He accepts his actions were reckless. He did not grab her head and bang it against the wall and she was not lying on the floor.
"In terms of what actually happened, there are difficulties with the evidence of both the woman and the defendant. There were nine exaggerations by her. She does accept she sent a message saying she had a broken pelvis. She accepts it was an exaggeration. She was in so much pain she thought it was broken. No-one ever said it was broken.
"Other exaggerations go further. In particular her evidence that when she ran in the bathroom she locked the door. If it was locked it is highly unlikely there would be no damage to the door or the frame if the defendant broke the door open." He added that the woman did not have injuries to her forehead which she would have had if it had been banged against a wall.
The judge said problems with Roscilli's evidence included him saying nothing to the police about going into the bathroom to retrieve his toothbrush. And he said after leaving the room he went to his car and stayed there. But when the officer went to look for Roscilli he was not there. "If the defendant and the dog had been in there the officer would not have failed to notice that," said the judge.
Judge Smith concluded: "How can I be sure he attacked her in the way she said. I cannot be sure of that. I am sure he was very angry. I accept he threw a packet of biscuits against the wall and a mug which damaged the TV or remote and he stormed into the bathroom with complete disregard to where she was and the possibility she would be hit.
"He did not enter to retrieve a toothbrush but did so to continue the argument. I am sure she was a particularly vulnerable person. I do find this was reckless fuelled by excessive anger, rather than a deliberate banging of the head against anything."
He adjourned the case until December 16 and ordered a pre-sentence report to be prepared. He warned Roscilli that all sentencing options are open to the court.
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