Pontardawe Serial Abuser Jailed for Witness Intimidation

A Pontardawe man with over 150 previous offences has been jailed after attempting to intimidate his ex-partner into dropping her testimony against him. 🔒

Terrence Tennant, 61, from Pontardawe High Street in the Swansea Valley, was sentenced to six months imprisonment after smuggling a threatening letter from prison to the woman he had previously assaulted.

Swansea Crown Court heard that Tennant had turned up drunk at his ex-partner’s home last December where he pushed his fingers into her eyes, pulled her hair and kicked her while she was on the floor. While remanded in custody for this actual bodily harm (ABH) assault, he arranged for an associate to deliver a letter to the victim.

In the letter, Tennant claimed he still loved her and expressed fear that he would be “looking at five years” if convicted at the upcoming trial, adding that if she lied about him “it could backfire on you”.

Prosecutor Regan Walters told the court that Tennant was later convicted of ABH against the woman—with whom he had been in a relationship for eight years—and jailed for 26 weeks. Shortly after his release, he was remanded again on a charge of witness intimidation.

The court heard that Tennant initially denied writing the letter but later pleaded guilty to intimidation.

With a staggering 155 previous offences on his record, Tennant was previously jailed in 2017 for five years and eight months for violent abuse against four partners. Weeks after his release in 2022, he breached a court order by turning up at the home of one of his victims.

In a powerful statement, his latest victim said: “I feel that I will never be free of Terry. Even serving a custodial sentence I feel he is able to continue the abuse. When I received the letter from Terry I was in total shock. He was attempting to control and manipulate the situation. I will continue to live my life looking over my shoulder. Terry has stripped everything from me — my confidence, my independence, and my identity. I feel broken and I don’t know who I am anymore. I don’t know what else can be done to make me feel safe.”

Defence barrister Hywel Davies told the court that Tennant had recently invested £35,000 in setting up a scaffolding business, plus £5,000 on a vehicle. He argued the remand was affecting the company’s two employees as Tennant was the only one with “the qualifications to effectively put up and take down the scaffolding”.

Judge Paul Thomas KC told Tennant the implicit threat in his letter was “apparent” and noted that “rather a lot” of the defendant’s life had been spent behind bars before imposing the six-month sentence.