Assault left victim with bruising to her elbows

A PEMBROKESHIRE HGV driver has been sentenced after dragging a woman off a sofa by her ankles, causing bruising to her elbows.

Paul Frank returned to his home in Haverfordwest on June 13 to find the woman sitting on his settee.

“He was verbally aggressive, grabbed her by her legs and pulled her off the couch,” Crown Prosecutor Ryan Colamazza told Haverfordwest magistrates this week.

“He grabbed her by her ankles, which resulted in bruising to her elbows.”

When interviewed by police, Frank, 56, of St Margarets Close, Haverfordwest, made a full admission to the assault.

Representing himself in court, he told magistrates he had previously asked the woman not to attend his property.

“She’d previously accused me of taking her mobile phone, so I didn’t want her in the house,” he said in mitigation. “But when I came home from work and saw her there, for some reason I just lost it and pulled her off the sofa.”

Frank pleaded guilty to assault by beating and was sentenced to a 12-month Community Order. He must complete 50 hours of unpaid work and pay £85 in court costs along with a £114 surcharge.

Second conviction leads to lengthy ban and community order

A MOTORIST who drove home from the pub believing she had consumed just two glasses of wine was later found to be more than three times the legal drink-driving limit.

Rhiannon Butler, 40, was stopped by police as she drove her Volkswagen Golf along Pembroke Street, Pembroke Dock, on Saturday (Nov 30).

“There was a strong smell of alcohol inside the vehicle and when she was asked about this, she said she was a recovering alcoholic who worked in a pub, which was why she smelt of alcohol,” Crown Prosecutor Ryan Colamazza told Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court this week.

Butler initially refused to provide a roadside breath sample. When she eventually agreed, the reading showed 125 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35. Further breathalyser tests carried out at the police station later recorded a reading of 109.

Butler, of River View, Stranraer Road, Pennar, pleaded guilty to the drink-driving offence. The court was told this was her second conviction for drink-driving, following a previous court appearance in 2020.

Due to the high reading, magistrates requested a pre-sentence report from the probation service before passing sentence.

“She’d been working that day and had drunk some alcohol when she finished,” the probation officer told the court. “She thought she’d had two glasses of wine, but people were filling up her glass, so she was unsure how much she’d drunk.”

Butler was disqualified from driving for a total of 40 months and given a 12-month community order. She was ordered to complete 80 hours of unpaid work and 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days. She must also pay a £114 court surcharge and £85 in costs.

Pembrokeshire defendant accused of abuse towards woman and four-year-old child

A 28-YEAR-OLD Pembrokeshire man has appeared before magistrates charged with subjecting a woman to months of controlling and coercive behaviour, as well as assaulting her and her young child.

Jake Davies, of Stokes Avenue, Haverfordwest, is accused of engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour towards the woman over a period of more than five months. He is also charged with assaulting the woman by beating and with assaulting her four-year-old child.

The Crown alleges that between August 1 and December 1, Davies repeatedly prevented the woman from using social media and from contacting her friends. He is further accused of threatening to kill himself if she left the property.

Davies was arrested on December 14 after allegedly throwing the woman against a bannister inside her home.

“All he was saying, repeatedly, was that he wanted no further action taken against him,” Crown Prosecutor Ryan Colamazza told Haverfordwest magistrates this week.

“That was the sole thing he was talking about while he was assaulting her.”

Mr Colamazza said the relationship began to deteriorate in August.

“He’s been very controlling about who she sees and he’s very jealous of her,” he said. “His aggression then turns towards the child – on one occasion he threatened to cut off the child’s fingers.”

Davies appeared before the bench in custody, where he denied all three charges of assaulting the woman and her child, and of engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour.

Despite an application by the Crown Prosecution Service to remand Davies in custody ahead of his Crown Court appearance, magistrates agreed to release him on conditional bail.

The conditions require that Davies lives and sleeps at his home address in Stokes Avenue, Haverfordwest; reports to Haverfordwest police station three times a week; does not enter Milford Haven or the surrounding area; and has no direct or indirect contact with the complainant. He must also comply with a daily electronic curfew between 7:00pm and 7:00am.

Davies is due to appear at Swansea Crown Court on January 16.