Newport Man Jailed After Threatening to “Chop Up” Partner

A 57-year-old Newport man has been jailed for eight years after a horrific attack on his girlfriend in which he knocked out her teeth, strangled her, and threatened to “chop her up into little pieces” with a knife. 🔒

David Trickett, who has a lengthy history of violence against partners, subjected his victim to an “orgy of violence” on August 31 last year after heavy drinking. Newport Crown Court heard that Trickett gouged at the woman’s good eye (she is already blind in one eye), an act Judge Carl Harrison described as “sadistic”.

The victim, a grandmother who had known Trickett for 40 years, described their relationship as “volatile with the defendant drinking to excess.”

In a powerful victim impact statement, she said: “For six years he has been verbally and physically abusive. He would apologise and then start all over again. I thought he was going kill me that night. Since the attack, I’ve had flashbacks every day – I now have PTSD.”

She added: “I’m fed up of being in pain and feeling ashamed. There are some days I wish he had killed me. He has dead eyes – he’s a monster to me.”

Prosecutor Owen Williams told the court that after punching the victim repeatedly in the face, Trickett “brandished that knife and told her, ‘I’m going to chop you up into little pieces.'” The terrified woman pleaded, “Please don’t kill me!”

David Pinnell, representing Trickett, said his client had suffered from alcohol addiction affecting him for “most of his adult life.”

Trickett, formerly of Darent Walk, Bettws, pleaded guilty to attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm, intentional strangulation and intentional suffocation. He has 25 previous convictions for 75 offences, including being jailed for four years in 2003 for biting another partner’s finger down to the bone.

He will serve at least two-thirds of a six-year jail term before release, followed by 24 months of supervision. An indefinite restraining order was also imposed, and he must pay a £228 surcharge. 👨‍⚖️