A 28-year-old man who attacked his partner at his home in Cimla, and threatened to kill the friend she phoned for help, has been given a suspended prison sentence at Swansea Crown Court.
Levi Walters hit the woman in the face with her own phone, bit her ear and stamped on her legs in the early hours of the morning in August. The attack followed her night out in Swansea, and he had demanded to see her phone.
Sentencing
With credit for his guilty pleas, Walters received 14 months in prison, suspended for 18 months. This was made up of:
- six months for the assault
- eight months for the threats to kill, to run consecutively.
He must also complete a rehabilitation requirement and an accredited programme.
A five-year restraining order now bans him from contacting his ex-partner or posting anything about her on social media. The judge told him it would be a “foolish man” who breached it.
The charges
Walters, now of Lime Grove, Killay, Swansea, had already pleaded guilty to:
- assault occasioning actual bodily harm
- two counts of making threats to kill.
He has three previous convictions for four offences.
The night out
Prosecuting, Harry Dickens said the couple were together when the offences happened. On the night of August 15, the woman went out in Swansea. Walters grew paranoid about what she was doing and sent her a voice message saying: “I will see you when I see you. Just make sure you don’t get kidnapped or raped.”
The attack
She went back to Walters’ home in Cimla in the early hours and was getting ready for bed when he demanded to see her phone. When she refused to hand it over or give him the PIN, he called her a “fing liar and a f rat” and began “screaming in her face”.
He snatched the phone and struck her in the face with it again and again until the screen shattered. He then bit her ear and stamped on her legs.
She rang a friend for help, but Walters attacked her again, landing on her with a “two-footed jump”, and threatened to kill the friend if she came to the house. As his partner grew distressed, Walters began “mocking her” by making fake crying noises.
Arrest and police interview
The friend arrived at the house in an Uber, and the woman ran out to the car “in tears and hyperventilating”. Police were called and arrested Walters at the address just after 2am. Officers found a bag of cannabis in his bedroom, but no charges followed.
When interviewed, Walters denied doing anything wrong. He claimed the allegations were malicious and had been made because he had found out his partner had been cheating.
Victim statement
In a statement read to the court by Mr Dickens, the woman said the attack left her feeling “incredibly vulnerable”, and that she now has panic attacks, anxiety and nightmares. She said: “I just want Levi to be as far away from me as possible.”
Mitigation
Sarah John, defending, said character references described Walters as a respectful, reliable and kind man, and as a “doting father”. She told the court that a report before the judge set out the adverse experiences he had in childhood.
The judge’s remarks
Judge Geraint Walters called domestic violence a “scourge on society”. He said the defendant’s treatment of his partner had been “truly appalling”, carried out in “some sort of irrational, jealous rage”.
The judge said he had read about the “emotional difficulties” Walters had faced. Whatever had made him “snap”, he said, had brought out a side of Walters that others had not seen before.
