A Leeds man attacked his girlfriend, stamped on her, left and then returned to carry out another brutal beating when she said she wanted to end their relationship.
Simon O'Rouke, 41, has been jailed for two years and three months for the horrific attack which took place after police had already attended 40 callouts in three years relating to arguments and assaults between the pair.
Leeds Crown Court heard on Wednesday that O'Rouke had been working a night shift with Hermes the night before the attack and went round to his partner's house at around midnight on July 3 this year after telling her his "depression was bad." Robert Galley, prosecuting, said the pair began drinking and things turned violent when the woman said she wanted to end their relationship.
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Mr Galley said: "The situation became badly violent with him calling her names because she said she no longer wanted to be in the relationship. He began punching her to the face and body and she said it happened quickly and it wouldn't stop and he wouldn't stop. She described being stamped on and kicked in the face. She couldn't estimate how long it lasted but didn't appear to be stopping and only after he finished she made a 999 call."
O'Rourke left the house but returned again to continue to beat the woman. The prosecution said the assault was "prolonged and sustained" and the woman was taken to hospital for her injuries which included a fractured cheekbone, swelling and bruising to areas including her face and thigh.
Following his arrest in a police interview the next day, O'Rouke said there was no unlawful assault and at one point the woman was on top of him. He said that he had also been wearing steel-toe boots and "if he used that it wouldn't have caused more injuries."
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the woman said her life has changed since the attack, and said during it she "was terrified and thought she was going to die and can't believe she's still alive." Reading the statement, Mr Galley said: "She just wanted the ground to swallow her up and away from the abuse and said her life will never be the same again. She describes at the hospital looking in a mirror and her face was unrecognisable."
The woman said the only human interaction she has now is with her sister who does her food shop, and when her sister is unable to do that she disguises herself with a mask and sunglasses to go to the shop. The court heard O'Rouke had pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm with intent and inflicting grievous bodily harm at an earlier hearing.
Mitigating, Matthew Steward, said police had been called to 40 incidents over the course of the couple's three-year relationship. He said the incidents where "somewhat against and by the same partner" and it was "clearly a volatile relation underpinned by alcohol."
Mr Steward said there was a "tendency to minimise the extent of her injuries" during this assault. He said: "He accepts what he did was wrong and says they drank far too much in excess. He expresses some remorse for the injuries he caused...It was in a domestic setting and he is extremely remorseful for what happened that day and his ashamed by his actions and embarrassed. This relationship was clearly toxic. In regards to him as a person and his history, this is out of character for him. He has stopped drinking and has taken steps to understand the impact alcohol has on him and is trying to give up smoking."
His Honour Judge Batty sentenced O'Rouke to 27 months in prison and told him: "You have done two things right in this case: Your guilty plea and your appearance today. You have the decency to hang your head in shame. What troubles me in this case apart from the deeply unpleasant, uncontrolled serious of violence that you used on her. This case is a relationship with 40 callouts.
"Apparently they're not all you, and you're weren't the aggressor in every situation but the police coming to the house that often, you don't think you should walk away and carry on, and here you are again drinking too much. It is no excuse, it is aggravating if anything. I can't imagine what possessed you to stamp on the face of a woman you were in a relationship with. It was prolonged and persistent."
O'Rouke was jailed for two years and three months. He will serve half of that sentence in custody before being released on licence.
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