A man beat and abused his partner just days after being given a suspended prison sentence for attacking her, a court has heard. Kenneth Richards-Mathias promised his partner he had "changed" but a week after walking out of court began a series of assaults on his victim in her own home.
Assaults began days after release
Caitlin Brazel, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that on June 1 this year the defendant was given a suspended prison sentence for inflicting violence on his partner and returned to live with her in Milford Haven following a period on remand.
She said seven days later, and while under the influence of crack cocaine, Richards-Mathias began accusing his partner of being unfaithful to him while he had been in custody. She said he then picked up a plate and threw it at the woman, causing lacerations to her leg.
The court heard that two days later the defendant again began accusing the woman of infidelity and that while she was trying to reassure him that she had not been unfaithful he punched her in the face causing a black eye.
Further attack and arrest
The prosecutor said that two days after the punch, and while the 43-year-old defendant was apparently "coming down" from a crack cocaine high, he began verbally abusing and taunting his partner before picking up a piece of wood and grabbing the complainant.
The barrister said following this final incident the complainant called 999. She said Richards-Mathias had left the property before officers arrived but an area search was conducted and he was located and arrested. In his subsequent interview he denied any wrongdoing.
Kenneth Richards-Mathias, of Old School Lane, Johnston, Pembrokeshire, had previously pleaded guilty on the day of trial to assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) and two counts of assault by beating when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has 33 previous convictions for 65 offences including robbery, dishonesty matters, theft, motoring offences, public disorder, ABH, and criminal damage.
Sentencing and rehabilitation
In May this year the defendant was sentenced to two years in prison suspended for three years for two counts of ABH, two counts of battery, theft, and harassment all committed against the same victim as the new offending.
Stuart John, for Richards-Mathias, said substance misuse and "relatively minor mental health issues" lay behind all his client's offending. He said given the chronology and nature of the offending before the court it was accepted that a custodial sentence was inevitable, and he said "the only positive" was that the defendant was now seeking "rehabilitative help".
Judge Christopher Vosper KC said it seemed from everything he had read that when the defendant returned to the complainant's home on June 1 he had done so with "promises that he had changed". He said initially things had gone well but that the use of crack led to "uncontrollable rage" on the part of Richards-Mathias and to the assault the court had heard about.
The judge noted from the pre-sentence report that there were "some signs of rehabilitation" but also noted that the Probation Service had concluded the defendant cannot be managed in the community at the present time.
With 10 per cent discounts for his guilty pleas Richards-Mathias was sentenced to 10 months in prison, and the judge activated the full 24 months of the previously imposed suspended sentence to run consecutively, making an overall sentence of 34 months.
The defendant will serve 40 per cent of the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. He was also made subject to a restraining order banning him from contacting his now ex-partner for the next three years.
