More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
A crack addict throttled and kicked his girlfriend “like a boxing bag” and then imprisoned her inside her own home.
Tony Little also “slapped” her “full pelt” in the face after breaking into her Ashford home.
The victim had found her then-ex-partner sleeping in her bed. He then woke up, became angry, and imprisoned her.
The 22-year-old punched, slapped and placed his hands around her throat making her feel “hot and sick”, a court heard.
Little stole her phone which she managed to retrieve, smashed up her home and launched another assault in the summer.
“He was slapping me around the face full pelt, kicking me like a boxing bag,” she described in one text read out in court.
Canterbury Crown Court heard Little was in the habit of stealing the mother of his child’s mobile.
Days before he turned up at the Albion Pub in Willesborough where the victim was relaxing with friends.
He grabbed her arm, began punching himself demanding money for drugs and took her mobile phone.
Her friend had to pay the addict £25 to return it.
On a separate occasion he would kick through her front door, smash her TV, and “took glasses from her face and bent them out of shape,” prosecutor Caroline Knight explained.
He stole her phone and fled the scene later to be arrested at another address.
Since on remand, Little’s barrister Kerry Waite claimed he had cleaned up his act and the 19-year-old victim has hopes for the relationship.
Judge Rupert Lowe heard Little was a “different man” after quitting the Class-A drug and hoped to become a stable father to the couple’s young child.
But the judge highlighted the court’s experience in domestic abuse cases, adding: “I think she may be naive, in her youth that things will be different in the future.”
Ms Knight pointed out Little had already totted up five convictions for 11 offences, including three counts of battering a previous partner.
The judge told the abuser: “Your behaviour to the mother of your child was violent, intimidating and controlling and terrifying for her and for your child.
“It is a very intimidating thing for a very young woman to have an out of control man breaking into her house all the time"- Judge Lowe
“You separated in February 2019 after a year of being together, no doubt because of your behaviour but you would not accept the separation.
“It is a very intimidating thing for a very young woman to have an out of control man breaking into her house all the time.
“You then went to bed and were aggressive when waking up. You kept her inside the property against her will, preventing her from leaving."
He added: “You grabbed her phone to prevent her from ringing the police. Then you attacked her.
“In her words when she sent a text message, she said: ‘He was slapping me around the face full pelt, kicking me like a boxing bag."
Little, of Hythe Road in Willesborough was jailed for two years for one count of burglary, two counts of assault and two of criminal damage.
The Crown Prosecution Service did not bring any charge against Little for the imprisonment offence.
For information on how we can report on court proceedings, click here.
