VIOLENT THUG LOCKED UP FOR TERRORISING GIRLFRIEND IN DARLINGTON
A violent young thug who terrorised his girlfriend throughout their short relationship has been locked up.Jealous James Casey would regularly threaten his girlfriend with a knife whilst also punching and spitting in her face as he attempted to control every aspect of her life.
The 19-year-old also made repeated threats to kill her as well as attack her grandfather with a knife over a two-month period, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Benjamin Bell, prosecuting, said the defendant left his victim with a black eye after punching her in the face and grabbed her by the throat on at least 50 occasions, as well as threatening her with a variety of knives.
He said the teenager regularly threatened to kill her while being verbally abusive towards his then-girlfriend before sending a series of vile messages.
“In one he threatens to ‘bite your grandpa’s face off’, secondly, ‘if you dare go to town, watch what I do’ and thirdly ‘you’re dead’, and in another ‘I’m going to f****** rip your insides out’,” he said.
Mr Bell said the defendant made his girlfriend ask for his permission to use the toilet, and wasn’t allowed to take her mobile phone to the bathroom.
The court heard how the defendant urged the woman to kill herself and demanded that she send him videos whenever she was out with other people.
Casey, of Green Towers, Wolsingham, pleaded guilty to coercive and controlling behaviour between April 2 and May 22 this year and a further charge of possession of a bladed article from May 22.
Cole Cockburn, mitigating, said his client had a difficult upbringing and was now determined not to go down the same path that he experienced as a child.
He added: “He held his hands up at a late stage, and he has expressed remorse and regret.
He is prepared to accept any punishment that the court sees fit.” Judge Francis Laird, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, sentenced the teenager to 16 months in a young offenders’ institute.
He said: “It started when you punched her on her nose, it resulted in a black eye and occurred after you became jealous about a former relationship.
“When she went to the police, she described a catalogue of different forms of controlling and coercive behaviour.
They ranged from checking her mobile telephone to insisting when you were apart, she sent you messages and videos proving where she was and who she was with up to acts of violence.
“The acts of violence included multiple occasions when you put hands to the throat and several occasions when you threatened her with knives.
“You issued threats to injure her and threats to injure members of her family, in particular her grandfather.” Casey was also made subject to an indefinite restraining order.
