A thug dad-of-four was locked up for 21 months on July 12 after twice assaulting his former girlfriend, leaving her "petrified" to return home. Daniel Page, 32, bit his victim twice on the face and even destroyed her fish tanks in one incident, before attacking her several months later by shoving her up against a brick wall.
The woman had to go to Hull Royal Infirmary to receive treatment after the first assault and the second caused a severe cut to her head. In both instances, Page breached bail conditions, Hull Crown Court heard as sentencing was passed.
Page, who has been on remand since the second assault on May, had pleaded guilty in June at Beverley Magistrates Court to two counts of assault occasioning on actual bodily harm and one count of criminal damage, Hull Live reports.
The victim and Page had been involved in a relationship. Page attended her address in Hull on January 20 after she had blocked him on social media.
Once inside her home, he began drinking alcohol. He appeared aggressive to the victim and in an attempt to try calm him down, she tried to kiss and embrace him.
He pushed her away, causing her to fall and suffer light bruising. Page subsequently bit her twice on the face, causing swelling.
The pair ended up out in the street, where she attempted to film the incident with a mobile phone and he tried to kick her before leaving her sight. She later returned to her house, only to find that he had re-entered it and smashed her two fish tanks.
As a result, all her fish died. While the victim was on the phone with the police, he threw her across the room, causing her to land on a rabbit hutch and he then proceeded to punch and kick her multiple times.
On May 4, while on bail for the previous incident on the condition of not contacting the victim, Page picked up items from her address while she was out. This led to two phone calls between the two where he was verbally abusive and at one point called her a "fat c***".
He came round to her address about 30 minutes later and she had to jam her foot against the door to prevent him from entering. To appease him, she agreed to walk with him to the shops. During that walk, in an alleyway, he shoved her against a brick wall which her head bounced off and he threatened to hurt her again.
In a victim impact statement relating to the first incident, the woman said: "This incident has left me terrified to return to my home." She also stated that Daniel Page knew she suffered from depression and believed he targeted the fish because he knew how much she cared about them and how they helped with her mental health.
Cathy Kioko-Gilligan, mitigating, acknowledged that Page's actions were "unacceptable and disgraceful behaviour". He had turned increasingly to drinking in the wake of distressing health news relating to a family member. His actions were "out of character". He is the father and step-father to four children aged between 5 and 12 and while a family member was lined up to apply for custody, it was a possibility that a prolonged custodial sentence would lead to the children being taken into care.
Daniel Page had three prior convictions, all related to driving offences. This included driving without due care and attention and failing to provide a specimen on January 20, after assaulting the victim. He had received a suspended sentence in February for this.
"You plainly have some good qualities because for a number of years you have looked after four children between the ages of 5 and 12," said Judge Bury. He said of the two bites Page made to the victim's face: "Now, that really is a shocking way to behave to somebody you're supposed to be in love with."
The smashing of the fish tanks was "spiteful". "As the victim's personal statement made clear, they were fish tanks with hot water fish in them which helped her cope with anxiety and depression."
"The excuse that you have for committing these offences is that you were at the time drinking heavily. That's no excuse for behaving like this."
Daniel Page received three months for the suspended sentence related to the driving offence, 10 months for the assault where he bit his victim twice on the face, and a further eight months for the alleyway assault.
All sentences were to be served consecutively and he was to serve half of the sentence in custody. A restraining order was also issued to not contact directly or indirectly the victim for five years. Two community orders linked to separate driving offences including the January 20 conviction were removed.
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