A controlling boyfriend pointed a knife at his partner and ran over her with his electric bike as she lay on the floor. Benjamin Johnson, 38, of no fixed address, was jailed for 18 months at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court after admitting controlling and coercive behaviour and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Campaign of control
The court heard Johnson controlled his victim by not letting her see friends and family, followed her around the house, and controlled her banking. Jonathan Dickinson, prosecuting, said the pair were in a relationship for two months, the Stoke Sentinel reports. Although the victim described it as fine at the start, adding that he gave her gifts, she began to notice a change in his behaviour towards her.
The prosecutor said: "She said he controlled very aspect of her life. He would not allow her to see friends or family or go out on her own and he would take her phone and block people she knew on social media. On May 22 she asked the defendant if she could go and see her mother. He blew up at her."
"She said she could not go anywhere without him. He would lock the door to the bedroom. She was unable to leave the house on her own. He kept the key on him so she could not leave and slept with the key so she could not leave the room. He would follow her around the house, follow her to the toilet."
Violent assault
On May 23 the victim went to a friend's house after she told Johnson the relationship was over. He followed her, brandished a kitchen knife, and pointed it at her. Mr Dickinson added: "She feared for her life and has never been so scared." She slept in an alleyway.
The prosecutor said: "He became verbally aggressive. He grabbed hold of her by the arms, dragged her in the street, and punched her three times to the face. He continued to be violent towards her." She ran off and hid in a neighbour's wheelie bin. He located her, and while she was still on the floor he revved his bicycle and rode over her legs.
Victim impact
In a victim statement the woman said she was petrified for her life. She added: "I do not feel I will be safe again if he is roaming this area. I am frightened of him approaching me and attacking me." In a second statement the victim's mum said: "I have never seen her so afraid of anything before."
The court heard Johnson is currently serving a jail sentence for two charges of possession of a bladed article and two Harassment Act charges relating to a different ex-partner. Adam Watkins, mitigating, said Johnson recognises he behaved extremely badly and regrets the way he treated his victim. He said: "He was not able to cope with the potential ending of the relationship. He was not able to cope with feelings of possible rejection. The controlling and coercive behaviour was limited to no more than two weeks."
Johnson was handed a five-year restraining order. Judge Graeme Smith told him: "I do have a considerable degree of concern that this is now the second case when you have behaved in one way or another in an appalling manner towards a partner."
