Risca thug jailed for assaulting pregnant girlfriend

A violent thug who punched his pregnant girlfriend in the eye before later threatening to kill her with a Stanley knife has been locked up for 42 months.

Thomas Powles, 37, from Risca, left the woman with a black eye when she was 18 weeks pregnant. The pregnancy ended in an “early termination”, though when this was mentioned at Newport Crown Court, Powles interrupted from the dock saying: “That was nothing to do with her eye.”

Judge Carl Harrison warned him: “Be quiet or you’ll be taken downstairs.”

The first assault happened on Sunday, 10th August, when the couple argued about cleaning up dog mess near their front door. Powles sucker punched her “full force to the eye” and told her, “that was your fault”.

The victim was taken to the Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran for treatment. She described the pain of the blow as “horrendous” and compared it to being “stung by a hundred bees”.

Two months later, on Saturday, 18th October, after the woman had ended their relationship, Powles launched another attack. He waited for her to come home from a funeral before grabbing her by the hair and putting her to the floor.

Prosecutor William Bebb told the court: “He told her, ‘Tonight is the night you are going to die,’ with a smirk on his face. His victim felt the blade come into contact with her right hand and she felt it on her right cheek.”

Powles then smashed the windscreen of her car, dented the driver’s door and slashed one of the tyres with the Stanley knife. When arrested, he told police: “Honestly, I don’t give a f***.”

In a victim impact statement, she said: “I honestly thought my life was going to end. I’ve never felt so frightened. I have been hurt by someone who said they loved me. I will never be able to let anyone new into my life again.”

Powles pleaded guilty to threatening a person with a bladed article in a private place, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and criminal damage. He has previous convictions for domestic violence against this victim as well as other previous partners.

Defence barrister Kevin Seal said his client had suffered an “adverse childhood experience” and was the only survivor of a car crash in his young years. “It was a toxic relationship,” his barrister added. “His guilty pleas are genuine indicators of his remorse. He knows he needs to be punished.”

Judge Harrison told Powles: “You have a shameful history of violence against women in a domestic context.”

The defendant was made subject to an indefinite restraining order not to contact the victim.