A man who subjected a woman to a campaign of abuse drove her to the top of a freezing mountain and left her there after criticising the way she was dressed.
Cruel Liam Clarke has been sentenced to two years in a young offenders’ institution after facing three counts of occasioning actual bodily harm for his behaviour towards his victim, Cardiff Crown Court heard on Thursday.
Clarke, 20, from Ebbw Vale, was said by Judge Jeremy Jenkins to be lauded by his father due to his skills in the boxing ring.
However, he told the defendant in the dock that rather than keeping his punching prowess for people “within his own weight”, he used it to bully the vulnerable woman.
Setting out the case, Roger Griffiths, prosecuting, told the court that the allegations to which the defendant pleaded guilty included; holding the woman’s head under water in a bath so she couldn’t breathe, holding a knife to her throat, dragging a knife down her body, demanding to know her exact whereabouts, scrolling through her phone and blocking her from wifi access so she could not receive texts.
In one instance, he took her to a mountainous region by car after he disapproved of how she dressed to go to a pub and left her on the mountain, before returning and driving off when she approached the car on the mountain, Wales Online reports.
Clarke's campaign of abuse also included making her stand in the corner of a room, threatening to kill her, headbutting her, kicking her, punching her to the head, and throwing her around a room.
He also hit her in the face causing a thick lip, caused bruising to her arm, and stamped on her foot so hard that she thought she had broken it.
Mr Griffiths said the actions of the defendant left the woman so isolated that her friends began to lose contact with her.
In a victim impact statement read to the court by Mr Griffiths, the woman said the experiences had left her having nightmares and felt she was a changed person.
“At first I considered him a strong and no nonsense kind of person,” she said, adding that she “lost all control and self esteem” as a result of his actions.
“I cry most days when I look in the mirror,” she said. “My mental health has deteriorated, most days I don’t want to be here.
“My life has been affected in every way. It’s crazy how one person can shatter every part of you inside and out. I feel like I am in a nightmare that is never going to end.”
Mr Griffiths told the court that Clarke has two convictions for two offences - assault and intimidating a witness by threatening violence against them in Newport.
Jeffrey Jones, for Clarke, said his client had offered guilty pleas in July and August, only accepted days before a trial was due to take place to settle the matter. Mr Jones asked for his client to be given a 20% discount for those pleas.
“His letter shows where his priorities have been in his own mind while in prison for a long time.”
He said Clarke wants to change his ways for the sake of his daughter and had shown the insight to suggest he can be a good role model to her.
In relation to the counts of ABH, Mr Jones said the injuries the woman had did not require medical attention. He pointed out that his client’s previous convictions were when he was a youth in a juvenile court.
“He has the support of his mother and siblings who are in court today,” Mr Jones added.
“It is my submission that he does regret what has happened. He was working in production at the time of the incidents and when he resumes freedom he will resume employment and will not depend on any welfare payments.”
Sentencing Clarke, Judge Jenkins told him: “Just looking at the allegations in this case makes very harrowing reading indeed and the effect on her has been profound.
"I’ve heard, as everyone else has, from the victim impact statement that she has a completely changed personality and has been frightened to leave her home.
“Your father is extremely proud of your boxing prowess. He wouldn’t be so proud if he knew you used it to assault her on more than one occasion.
"Rather than consigning it to the ring, rather than keeping it to people of your own weight, you bullied her for a long time.
“The presentence report indicates that you are at high risk of causing serious harm. We’ve heard about you leaving her on top of a mountain, using conduct which intended to humiliate and degrade her.
"Mr Jones has eloquently put a case forward to try to persuade me to suspend your sentence.
"I will not be doing so. Your actions are too serious to be dealt with by anything short of immediate detention. No other sentence is commensurate with your level of offending."
Clarke, of King Street, Ebbw Vale, received two years in a young offenders’ institution, half of which he will serve in detention. He was also made subject to a restraining order.
