A man has been jailed for a prolonged attack on his partner which included strangulation.
Scott Motum, 28, and his partner had been in a two-month relationship when his offending occurred on April 17.
Amid an argument, the woman left his home to ease tension but, as she walked, then realised Motum was following her.
He suddenly pushed her into a car that was parked by the side of the road. Her head struck the vehicle, she ended up falling to the ground and nearby relatives of the woman heard the sickening impact. This caused an injury to her forehead.
Carlisle Crown Court heard Motum took hold of the woman’s hair and dragged her back to his address, where he slammed her head against a living room door and put one of his hands around her throat.
“He was squeezing her throat, applying pressure so there were a few seconds where she could not breathe,” said Gerard Rogerson, prosecuting. “He was also digging his fingers into the sides of her throat. That has caused bruising and scratches to each side.”
The woman later recalled: “I was in fear for my life.”
After Motum put one hand on her throat again, his phone rang and she fled, hiding behind garages and cowering between cars as she waited to be collected by her dad.
The woman suffered multiple injuries, including a black eye, bruising and cuts to her hip and she detailed the long-lasting impact of his crimes in two impact statements.
Motum, of Brown Street, Workington, admitted charges of intentional strangulation and actual bodily harm assault.
Judge Nicholas Barker imposed an immediate 24-month prison sentence, and took a particularly dim view of Motum’s strangulation of the woman.
“The courts over the years have understood the very serious consequences of that and the great fear it causes,” said Judge Barker, who told Motum he had “intended to demonstrate total control and the fact that her life was in your hands.”
