OFFENDER NARROWLY ESCAPES PRISON AFTER ASSAULTING PARTNER OVER MAKE-UP DISPUTE
A Nottinghamshire man hit his terrified partner while holding their young son in his other arm.Andrew Ridsdale then told the victim that if she told the police he had attacked her, he would tell them it was because she had come at him with a knife.
In a statement given at Nottingham Crown Court, the 51-year-old engineer’s ex-girlfriend said she “fears for her life” and has “lost self-worth and dignity” as a result of what took place.
Now he has narrowly escaped a prison term with a judge’s warning that if he offends again “there can and will be only one outcome”.
Handing him an 18-month jail term, suspended for two years, Judge Michael Auty KC said: “All of this offending comes from your relationship with your (former partner).” “There was an appreciable age difference between you and many relationships like this succeed, but this one did not.
“The relationship lasted 18 months and produced a son who you plainly dote on and who plainly dotes on you, and that is the tragedy of the situation.
“In May 2023, an argument developed between you, and during it, you assaulted her.
“No man worthy of the name ever assaults a woman in any way whatsoever, and this was understandably frightening for her, and you have to take responsibility for that.
“If anything like this happens again, there can and will be only one outcome next time.” Serena Varatharajah, prosecuting, said Ridsdale and the victim had been in a relationship for around 18 months, which she described as “up and down” during their time together.
She said that at around 6pm on May 18, 2023, the woman was at her home address, intending to take her son to her grandmother’s, but the defendant, instead, wanted the boy to stay with him.
The prosecutor said: “She went upstairs and began putting on make-up, and he asked her why she was doing that when she had not put any on for him.
“He said ‘you’re not taking (the son) to your nan’s, he can stay with me’ and then said ‘you are putting your slag make-up on to go to Alberto’s (a bar in Retford ).
“He then picked the son up with one arm and slapped the victim across the face and squeezed her arm around her back.
“He then pushed her down and hit her with enough force to drive her into a Moses basket.
“She reported it to the police and he said to her ‘if you try to take (our son) I will kill you’.
“He then said ‘if you tell the police that I hit you I will tell them you came at me with a knife and that is why I hit you’.” Miss Varatharajah said Ridsdale was arrested and answered “no comment” to the questions he was asked.
In a victim impact statement, the woman told how she “lost self-worth and dignity,” “feels isolated” and “is extremely scared of the defendant, fearing for her life” The defendant, of Francis Way, Retford, pleaded guilty to charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault and has four previous convictions for seven offences, including two for harassment.
As part of the suspended sentence order, the judge ordered the defendant to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and to attend 20 rehabilitation sessions.
He also handed him a five-year restraining order.
