NORTH EAST BULLY THREATENED EX HE'D 'KILL HER AND TERRORISE HER FAMILY' DURING ATTACK IN HER OWN HOME
A man with a history of domestic violence threatened his former partner with a butter knife during a violent episode in her home.Over recent years, Mark Amery has caused significant distress to the woman, including previous assaults, a court was told.
The woman was at her residence in Washington with her young son on November 27 last year when Amery arrived unexpectedly.
Despite being told he was not welcome, he forcefully entered, claiming he would leave once he obtained bus fare and water.
He then accused her of infidelity, shouted abusive words, and talked to himself.
Frightened, the woman asked him to leave, but Amery declared he wanted to kill someone.
He mentioned hearing voices and suggested he believed she was having sex with another man while incarcerated.
The situation escalated as Amery began punching her in the head and arms, refusing to leave when she demanded.
When she attempted to call police, he seized her phone, then picked up a butter knife, which he had been using earlier to serve himself lasagne, and made stabbing motions at her, holding it under her chin.
He threatened that if she reported him to the authorities, she would have to relocate abroad because he would track her down, kill her, and harm her family.
As she escaped through the front door, he punched her in the back of the head, knocking her into nearby bushes.
She screamed for help and sought safety at a neighbor’s house.
Officers found her with a broken phone and a small hole in her living room door.
She sustained bruises to her temple, the back of her head, arms, and legs.
In a victim impact statement, she described feeling traumatised, stating, 'I believe I’ve been completely traumatised by this attack.
At the time, I thought I was going to be killed.' The woman also experienced heightened anxiety, heart palpitations, concussion symptoms, dizziness, and peripheral vision issues.
She was forced to leave her home and stay in a refuge with her son for some time, during which her son also suffered nightmares related to the event.
Amery, age 37, of Azalea Terrace in Sunderland, has 17 prior convictions, including assaults on the same woman and violations of a non-molestation order.
He pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm, threatening with a bladed object, and criminal damage.
The court sentenced him to 30 months in prison and issued a ten-year restraining order.
The judge described his conduct as abusive and controlling, stating, 'You bullied her, effectively to satisfy your own feelings.
The bullying has spilled into violence and there's a history of her seeking a non-molestation order which you have breached more than once.' He added, 'You threatened her, albeit with a butter knife; she saw it as a serious weapon.
You held it to her chin.
Just imagine how she would have felt in those circumstances.'
