A husband who attacked his wife with a vacuum cleaner attachment she was using to try and defend herself has been given a 26-month jail term.
Residents in a communal kitchen of a Carlisle house saw the distressed woman on March 25.
She was terrified, shaking and crying hysterically; had a black eye with swollen hands and wrists; and demonstrated that the injuries had been caused with a punching motion.
The woman provided police with details of a prolonged assault carried out by her husband, 32-year-old Marius Popa, on March 25.
During an argument, Popa punched his wife while intoxicated by alcohol. She tried to run away but Popa would not let her leave.
She did eventually managed to exit the room. Prosecutor Gerard Rogerson told Carlisle Crown Court: “When asked about her injuries following that incident, she said that she had sprained two of her fingers and that she had bumps and lumps and bruises to her legs from where Mr Popa attacked her with an attachment from a vacuum cleaner, that being an implement she had initially tried to defend herself with.
“The incident, she said, lasted around 20 to 30 minutes. There was not much conversation during the incident as he was punching her, grabbing her, lifting her and slamming her down.
“She also said that he had smashed her phone when she had tried to contact the police during the incident.”
After Popa was later sentenced for a separate assault, committed in April, his wife moved out and did not let him know where she was living.
She asked a friend to pass on a package which Popa had sent to their old address but he then followed her pal and then began a period of stalking during which Popa repeatedly tried to make unwanted contact despite her attacks to stop him.
He also secured work at the factory where she was employed and on one shift the pair were placed on the same production line.
In an impact statement, the woman spoke of living in fear amid his violence and control.
Popa admitted actual bodily harm assault, stalking and criminal damage.
Judge Nicholas Barker jailed Popa, of Warwick Road, Carlisle, and banned him from having any contact with the woman for five years.
