A dad-to-be bit and punched his pregnant partner, telling her: “I’m going to kill you and the baby.”
Callum Salem launched into the attack at his victim’s flat after claiming - wrongly - he had doubts over whether he was the father of her baby. Describing the assault, a judge today told him: “You were jealous, you were possessive, you were out of control.”
Liverpool Crown Court heard the incident unfolded on the night of June 6, last year. Ken Grant, prosecuting, said Salem challenged her over the paternity of their baby before leaving her Wirral home.
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He then returned, “barging” his way inside, “grabbing” her mobile phone and then “squaring up” to her in the bedroom. Mr Grant said: “In a moment of rage, the prosecution say he bit her to the side of the face. She managed to push him away but he lunged at her and put both of his hands around her neck.”
The assault continued into the kitchen, where he punched her while she was on the ground and, Mr Grant said, told her: “I’m going to kill you and the baby.” The attack only concluded when a neighbour was able to step in.
Mr Grant said that when Salem was arrested he told police he had not been the aggressor and that he only bit his then-partner to escape a “bear hug”. The court heard the victim required help for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder following the attack, which left her with two black eyes. She has since had to move home and always feels “on edge”.
Salem has not seen their child - though the court was told he had been providing maintenance payments.
The 22-year-old admitted assault occasioning bodily harm - but only on the verge of a trial over the allegation, and even then suggested he had acted in “excessive self-defence” - which Judge David Aubrey, QC, described as “deeply concerning”. The court heard Salem had now withdrawn from that position and accepted the prosecution case.
Callum Ross, defending, said his client was of previous good character, voluntarily began to offer financial support for the child and had not been in trouble since his arrest. He said: “In my submission the court can view this as an isolated incident and can have confidence this is a defendant who is now on the straight and narrow and will continue to tread that path in the future.”
Describing the events that unfolded, Judge Aubrey said: “You barged into her home being a possessive, jealous young man and then you perpetrated in the court’s judgement a prolonged and sustained assault upon her. Fortunately, the injuries were not permanent but in the court’s judgement they are significant injuries in this sense because I have examined, and I am re-examining, the marks that you had caused to your victim’s neck.”
Judge Aubrey said: “This is an extremely serious offence, in the court’s judgement, of domestic violence and everything must be done to ensure that vulnerable women are protected.” He said the victim was “particularly vulnerable” due to being pregnant and his challenge was to decide whether to suspend the 18 month jail sentence he deemed appropriate.
The judge concluded the incident appeared to have been isolated, and because of Salem’s age and previous good character, and that he is in work and already paying towards the costs of raising his child, that he could do this.
Judge Aubrey said: “You, in my judgement, are very much on the cusp and had it not been for those facts to which I have just made reference, this court would have no hesitation whatsoever in ordering that you serve the sentence immediately. Just, and only just, the court has come to the conclusion that it can suspend the sentence.”
Salem, of Quigley Street in Birkenhead, was handed an 18 month jail sentence suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 30 rehabilitation activity days, attend a ‘building better relationships’ programme, pay compensation and made the subject of a restraining order.
