A man working at a prison in south Wales bit his partner and poured a bottle of milk over her to humiliate her, a court has heard.
After Jordan Roberts was charged with the assault, his older brother Corey sent threatening and intimidatory text messages to a member of the complainant's family in a bid to stop her giving evidence against his sibling.
The texts worried the victim so much that she reconsidered whether she should go ahead with the case and the trial of the younger brother had to be abandoned.
Attack details
Regan Walters, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that Jordan Roberts and the complainant had been in a relationship for some three years when, in September 2023, she went to the defendant's home to confront him about being unfaithful.
The prosecutor said the defendant became aggressive towards the complainant and bit her on the forearm before grabbing a bottle of milk and pouring it over her in an act of "gratuitous degradation".
The court heard Roberts then called his victim's mother and told her to come and collect her daughter. When the mum arrived at the Croeserw property she found her daughter sitting on the floor crying and with "dripping wet hair". The complainant was subsequently taken to the Princess of Wales Hospital where medics found circular bruising on her right forearm.
Sentencing
Judge Paul Thomas KC told Jordan Roberts that he had carried out a "cowardly, bullying attack" on his partner and told him biting was something which toddlers did, not grown men. With a 10% discount for his guilty plea, Roberts was sentenced to 12 months in prison suspended for 18 months and was ordered to complete a rehabilitation course and do 200 hours of unpaid work in the community.
Judge Thomas told Corey Roberts that he had no doubt that when the defendant had sent the threatening messages he had intended they should deter the complainant from giving evidence against his brother. He said the defendant had shown little genuine remorse, and said any idea of rehabilitation at the present time was "fanciful". With a 10% discount for his guilty plea, Corey Roberts was sentenced to 14 months in prison, and the judge activated 20 weeks of the suspended sentence which he was in breach of to run concurrently. Roberts will serve 40% of the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
