Pontypool Man Jailed for Suffocating Girlfriend with Bag

A Pontypool man who subjected his girlfriend to a terrifying ordeal has been jailed for three years and seven months.

Gavin Tovey, 42, of Elm Close, Trevethin, suffocated his victim with a black plastic bag, strangled her, threw her around a room “like a doll”, and burnt her cheek with a cigarette.

Cardiff Crown Court heard how Tovey falsely accused his now ex-partner of cheating on Sunday, 8 June, despite this being “patently untrue”.

Prosecutor Sol Hartley told the court: “The defendant then emptied the contents of a black bag and put it over her head and tightened the end. She was screaming that she couldn’t breathe – she thought he was going to kill her. The victim then describes being thrown around the room like a doll before he burnt her cheek with a cigarette.”

The attack came after Tovey had previously strangled the woman and smashed her phone when she tried to leave him after discovering he had been cheating on her. He apologised and convinced her to stay.

In her victim impact statement, the victim said: “This has had a massive impact on my mental health. I have been traumatised. I can’t sleep and I feel that I can’t switch off.”

Recorder Victoria Hillier told Tovey: “These offences were committed in a domestic abuse context. It was a violation of trust and security and this was a terrifying incident. You suffocated her with a plastic bag in her own home.”

Tovey admitted intentional suffocation, intentional strangulation, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, assault by beating and criminal damage. He has seven previous convictions for 15 offences, including one for violence against another girlfriend in 2008.

The court heard that whilst remanded in custody, Tovey wrote letters to the woman telling her he loved her and begging her to “get me out of here” – described as an aggravating feature as it was an attempt to “dissuade her from supporting the prosecution”.

Defence barrister Jac Brown said: “He has shown his remorse and wants to rehabilitate himself. The defendant’s best mitigation are his early guilty pleas.”

Tovey was also made the subject of a five-year restraining order not to contact the woman.