DRUNK MAN PUNCHED DAUGHTERS IN ROW OVER THEIR MOTHER'S WILL
A man worried about his partner's will being changed as she was dying from cancer came home drunk and assaulted his two daughters.Jonathan Palmer's partner, who had stage four cancer and has since died, was at home with their 15-year-old daughter and the woman's other grown-up daughter, Palmer's step-daughter, when Palmer, 55, got home drunk.
In a drunken rage he shoved the 15-year-old against a wall causing her a mild concussion and then clamped her legs between his and struck her in the head.
She shouted for help from her sister.
When the older sibling came to help Palmer grabbed her by the hair and punched her in the face.
The 15-year-old punched Palmer in the head and he retaliated by punching her again.
In the struggle that followed, he spat at and headbutted his step-daughter and the violence only ended after neighbours arrived to help.
The younger daughter, in her statement to Leicestershire Police about the incident in Howe Road, Loughborough, in January last year, said she believed Palmer was going to kill her.
Palmer, now of Empress Road, Loughborough, pleaded guilty to two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The court heard that the older sister, who suffered the most injuries, had been left with a split lip and was bleeding from her mouth and head injuries.
When police officers spoke to Palmer at the property he blamed his daughters for attacking him and said he was acting in self-defense.
He added that they were trying to kick him out of his home, which he still owns a 50 per cent stake in.
He then told police he would blow the house up.
In his police interview, after he'd sobered up, he admitted being drunk but continued to deny hitting the 15-year-old.
However, he pleaded guilty to the charges at his first court appearance in September last year.
The court heard that Palmer's partner - who is the mother of both victims - had been diagnosed with terminal cancer back in 2019.
She died shortly after the incident in January last year.
Prosecutor Devni Kitulagoda said: "This was a persistent assault and both offences are aggravated by the domestic abuse context and the fact they were committed while under the influence of alcohol." Diane Mundill, representing Palmer, said: "He is fully accepting of his actions.
This was clearly not a good time in that house for anyone.
"A short time after her passing.
He is fully remorseful for his actions.
He is devastated by the loss.
He was grieving the whole time she was unwell." She said that since the incident, Palmer's bail conditions have forbidden him from going back home and that he remained unable to get local authority housing because he owns half of the Howe Road property.
Palmer was banned from attending the house in Howe Road, or anywhere else he knew his step-daughter to be, for the next five years and also banned him from contacting her directly.
