MAN STRANGLED PARTNER AND PUNCHED HER EIGHT TIMES IN STREET
Matthew Alden, aged 27 from St Austell, violently assaulted his partner by punching her multiple times and strangling her in a street.He subsequently attacked a security guard when he attempted to intervene.
Alden appeared before Truro Crown Court to be sentenced after pleading guilty to charges of assault causing actual bodily harm and assault by beating.
The court heard that on April 8, the day of the attack, Alden and his partner, who were dating, went for breakfast and drank alcohol throughout the day.
During this period, the victim left to withdraw money.
Video footage shown at court captured Alden striking his partner roughly eight times during daylight.
After pausing briefly, he forcibly pushed her to the ground and applied a chokehold while shouting “I will kill you.” He continued hitting her before walking away, prompting her to call emergency services.
Her injuries included cuts and permanent scars.
Alden, who has 13 prior convictions mainly for violent offenses, claimed in police interviews that he had blacked out from drinking and did not remember the assault.
In a statement, the victim conveyed her fear of Alden and described his behaviour as increasingly unpredictable and threatening.
Sentencing Alden, Judge Simon Carr said: "You were with your then partner and had been drinking all day when a verbal argument became physically violent.
For no reason you subjected your partner to a sustained beating.
You punched her at least eight times, most of those blows to the head.
"A member of the public doing his job attempted to intervene and you punched him to the head repeatedly." Judge Carr noted how Alden strangled the victim and how strangulation can lead to brain damage and death within minutes.
Judge Carr noted Alden's desire to change before jailing him for 18 months.
A restraining order was also put in place.
