A one-time MMA competitor who attacked his partner while she was 16 weeks pregnant has avoided an immediate prison sentence.
Gregory Cuthbert, 30, of Mount Pleasant, Maesycwmmer, received a 21-month term suspended for two years when he was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court.
The sentence
As well as the suspended prison term, Cuthbert must:
- complete 240 hours of unpaid work
- attend an accredited programme
- pay a surcharge
A restraining order lasting seven years now bars him from contacting the woman.
He had denied any wrongdoing, but a jury convicted him of assault occasioning actual bodily harm following a trial in September.
The assault
The attack took place at the home the couple shared in the run-up to Christmas 2020.
Cuthbert pushed his then partner, an NHS worker, over a chair. She fought back, and he was left injured himself after she “scratched and scrammed” him.
The judge, Caroline Rees KC, said his anger stemmed from the woman returning from work worn out and unwell. She told him:
“You weren’t happy that she came home from work tired and feeling unwell because she wasn’t giving you her full attention.
“This was a terrifying assault.”
The victim’s words
Prosecutor Elin Morgan read a victim personal statement to the court on the woman’s behalf.
In it, she said:
“This has had a profound and lasting impact on my life.
“I honestly believed I was going to die.
“He wrapped his arms around my neck.
“I felt utterly defenceless.”
She described how the period should have been among the happiest of her life, shared with a man she believed loved her. Of the moment she hit back, she said: “I was fighting for two lives.”
She told the court she went on to develop post-natal depression after her son was born and is still struggling with her mental health.
Previous conviction
The court heard this was not the first time Cuthbert had been convicted of violence.
He was previously found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm on a man while working as a bouncer at the Judges & Jurys nightclub in Aberdare in 2019. During that assault, he and another doorman left a customer seriously hurt, and a finger was put in the man’s eye.
For that offence, he received a 12-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months, along with 200 hours of unpaid work.
The defence
Joshua Scouller, for Cuthbert, told the court his client had a good work ethic and was due to begin a part-time degree.
The defence also said: “This was a spontaneous assault that was short-lived.”
Comments
Comments on this story are checked before they appear. Please don’t name anyone the story doesn’t, or say anything about guilt or the evidence.
No comments yet. Be the first to have your say.