Woman left with footprint bruise on arm after attack

A man who punched his partner and stamped on her arm, leaving a foot-shaped bruise, has been sentenced by a judge who branded his attack disgusting and cowardly.

Calvin Lee Rowell, 29, and the woman had been in a two-year relationship which Carlisle Crown Court heard was volatile by the time violence flared on the night of May 27, 2018.

The couple had been out socialising, returned to a city address and were eating takeaway food in bed. Rowell turned off the light before the woman had finished eating.

When asked to switch the light back on Rowell refused, prompting his then partner to flick some juice from a glass towards him.

Rowell, she recalled, “went mad”, initially punching her to the face with such force that she fell off the bed and onto the floor.

He got on top of her, punching her while she screamed at him to get off. Rowell poured a litre bottle of Lucozade over the woman and then stamped on her arm. Her injuries included a bloodshot eye, bruising to her head and a foot-shaped bruise on her upper arm.

In a statement, she outlined the lasting impact of the attack, a prosecutor saying she had told her new partner she can’t cry as she has run out of tears.

Rowell admitted actual bodily harm assault. In view of his guilty plea and the length of time that had elapsed since the incident, Recorder Tony Hawks suspended a nine-month prison sentence for two years.

Rowell, now of Waver Street, Silloth, must complete a rehabilitation requirement and comply with the strict terms of a five-year restraining order.

Recorder Hawks, learning that Rowell had no previous convictions, spoke of a disgusting, squalid first one. “It is no reputation to have that you are a man who has beaten up a woman,” said the judge. “I hope you are utterly ashamed of yourself.”