A man who punched and kicked a woman he’d met only hours earlier at a funeral has been jailed.
Robert Riddick, 31, had met his victim for the first time on August 20 2020, with a wake and drinks being held at her aunt and uncle’s address in Barrow.
There was drinking until the early hours of the following morning with Riddick and the woman then sharing a taxi.
After they both got out in the area of her home, there was an argument which, prosector Tim Evans told Carlisle Crown Court today, was the spark for violence.
Two neighbours were woken by arguing.
One saw Riddick punch the woman with a clenched fist and her head go backwards with the force of the blow. As the woman stood up, Riddick continued to try and grab at her and swing punches towards her face. He then took hold of her upper arms and flung her into the street with force.
A second neighbour saw a woman in the road with a man over her raving and shouting abuse. “He saw the male bring his foot back and kick the female as she lay on the floor,” said Mr Evans. “He didn’t see where the blow landed but said it would have been the top half of her body.”
Police were called and the woman was found in the street, bleeding from her mouth with her right arm seen to be limp. Officers arrived and Riddick was arrested after returning to the scene.
The woman’s injuries included significant bruising to her face and black eyes, with a cast later being applied to her lowest right arm amid soft tissue damage. A stolen mobile phone and medication were found in Riddick’s possession on arrest.
He admitted actual bodily harm assault and theft from the woman who, the court heard, was now deceased.
Recorder Tony Hawks heard Riddick, of Ferenese Crescent, Hamilton, Lanarkshire, had not offended since that incident. But he was told of the defendant’s 14 previous criminal offences, which the prosecutor had said included past assaults on women.
Imposing an immediate eight-month prison sentence, Recorder Hawks told Riddick: “I hope you are ashamed of yourself. I can’t think of anything more disgraceful than kicking a woman in public in the street.”
