Macauley Thomas, aged 28, of Lewis Crescent, Gilfach, Caerphilly, has been sentenced to 34 months’ imprisonment at Newport Crown Court after admitting the intentional strangulation of his pregnant former partner in front of her five young children.
The court heard the incident took place after a brief six-week relationship deteriorated due to Thomas’s persistent paranoia and groundless accusations that the woman was communicating with other men.
On the day of the attack, the victim was at home in Caerphilly borough caring for her five children when Thomas sent an explicit text message warning: “I’ll come and batter you now, watch.”
Moments later, Thomas gained entry to the property.
Upon encountering the victim’s young son downstairs, Thomas shouted: “Where the f*** is your mother? I’ll f****** kill her.”
He proceeded to charge upstairs, cornered the woman in her bedroom, and aggressively demanded to inspect her mobile phone.
When she declined to hand over the device, Thomas pinned her to the bed, straddled her, and forcefully clamped both hands around her throat, cutting off her airway until she was unable to breathe.
The victim’s five children entered the room and witnessed the assault, crying and pleading with Thomas to stop choking their mother.
Thomas finally released his grip from her throat after one of the children threatened to contact the police immediately.
Taking advantage of the break in violence, the victim gathered her children and fled the property to seek safety at a neighbour’s address while Thomas absconded.
Police officers and medical responders subsequently documented visible red bruising and marks encircling the victim’s neck.
The court heard that Thomas had accrued eight previous convictions.
He entered guilty pleas to a series of offences:
- Intentional strangulation
- Driving a motor vehicle with a proportion of a specified controlled drug above the specified limit (drug-driving)
- Driving whilst disqualified
- Using a motor vehicle without third-party insurance
- Failing to provide a specimen for analysis
- Possession of a controlled drug of Class B (cannabis)
- Possession of counterfeit currency
Passing sentence, Recorder Simon Stephenson described the terrifying nature of the domestic invasion and the trauma inflicted on the young children who witnessed their mother fighting for breath.
The judge imposed an immediate custodial sentence totalling 34 months.
Release Calculation: Under UK sentencing legislation governing standard determinate custodial sentences of less than seven years, early release provisions apply at the halfway mark. Thomas will be required to serve 17 months in prison custody before becoming eligible for automatic release on licence to serve the remainder of the sentence under the supervision of the Probation Service.
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