Mark Powell (Image: Gwent Police)
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A 44-year-old man has been jailed for two years and eight months after carrying out repeated violent assaults on his now ex-partner and subjecting her to a prolonged harassment campaign.
Mark Powell, of Attlee Avenue, Abertillery, pleaded guilty at Cardiff Crown Court to three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, harassment, criminal damage, and drink-driving.
Victim impact
The couple had been together for a decade and were married before the relationship broke down in May last year. In a statement read to the court, the victim spoke of the devastating toll Powell’s behaviour had taken on her life.
“I’m now living in a constant state of fear,” she said. “I no longer have the ability to feel happy. I feel incredibly vulnerable and I’m concerned about the level of threat towards myself and others.”
The assaults
Prosecutor Pamela Kaiga set out three separate attacks over a number of years. Powell left the victim with a black eye in December 2016, and headbutted her during an argument in April 2021 after he had been drinking.
The third assault came in February last year, when Powell dragged the victim across the floor by her hair before punching her in the face.
Campaign of harassment
From January 2024, Powell began an almost two-year campaign of harassment against the victim, the court heard.
While the victim was out with friends on May 23 last year, Powell turned up at her home, grabbed her Ring doorbell and made a comment about it needing to charge, before pocketing the device and walking away while calling her derogatory names.
Days later, the victim woke to find Powell standing over her inside her home. After getting him to leave, she found the tyres on her car were flat.
His relentless contact and repeated appearances at the property forced the victim to move in with her brother for safety. Following his arrest, Powell was released on bail with a condition not to contact her – but continued to phone her repeatedly from a withheld number.
On November 3, the victim was woken by a loud bang outside and discovered Powell had damaged her car. Officers found him nearby, drunk behind the wheel of his own vehicle, and arrested him.
Sentencing
The court heard Powell had 14 previous convictions for 21 offences.
Judge Christopher Felstead told the defendant: “I consider this to be cowardly domestic abuse in which you picked on your partner who was no doubt weaker than you and unable to defend herself. What you have done has had an enormous effect on her.”
Along with the prison sentence, the judge granted the victim a 15-year restraining order and banned Powell from driving for 38 months.
