A former Whitehaven rugby league player has been ordered to wear a booze ban tag after assaulting his ex-partner and then urging her to withdraw support for the prosecution.
Jessie Jo Parker, 36, was described as being very drunk in the town’s Joe Bananas bar on February 6 when seen by his former girlfriend, who knew he was very argumentative when intoxicated.
After Papua New Guinea-born Parker made reference to a new visa, he was ejected due to his drunken state but his ex was left shaking. She then felt him striking her in the back from behind with a clenched fist.
“He got right in her face and said words to the effect of ‘if you don’t let me see (a child), I will kill you’,” prosecutor Gerard Rogerson told Carlisle Crown Court today. “She says she was petrified.”
She described his body language as being aggressive and him as really angry.
In an impact statement, she later added: “I do not want him back at my house at any point. No-one has the right to treat me like this.”
Parker was arrested but later sent her numerous messages, one saying “thank you for stopping my visa” and another “I hate you for the rest of my life”. “There was also a message that asked her to drop the charges,” said Mr Rogerson.
A man without previous convictions, Parker admitted assault by beating and doing an act tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice.
Sean Harkin, mitigating, said his actions were unsophisticated and not successful. Parker, a centre who played more than 200 times for Whitehaven, had represented the club with distinction and was backed by glowing character references from the chairman, current and former board members and ex-team-mates.
Judge Nicholas Barker imposed an 18-month community order comprising rehabilitation work to address his offending behaviour.
“Your problem, it seems to me, Jessie Jo Parker, is drink. When you drink, you don’t control your behaviour and when someone says no, you don’t take no for an answer,” said the judge.
Parker, of Solomon Court, Whitehaven, must complete 150 hours’ unpaid work and wear an alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement bracelet for 100 days. He was also banned from contacting the woman for three years.
