A MAN who pushed his partner and attacked her with the wires of his PlayStation during an argument has been jailed after pleading guilty on the day of trial.
John McMichael, 36, had denied charges of battery and strangulation and was set to stand trial at Swansea Crown Court on October 29.
However, before the trial got underway, the defendant switched his plea and admitted battery.
Prosecutor Alycia Carpanini said this plea was acceptable for the Crown Prosecution Service, and formally offered no evidence on the strangulation charge.
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Ms Carpanini said the attack took place at an address in Haverfordwest on May 1.
McMichael and his partner – who had been together for just a month or two – had an argument and the defendant was packing his belongings.
The court heard that he then pushed his partner, and attacked her with the wires of his PlayStation.
“The Crown say the battery is the push and the whipping of the cables,” Ms Carpanini said.
The defendant, of no fixed abode, had 19 previous convictions for 23 offences, and was subject to a community order at the time of the attack.
Ashanti-Jade Walton, appearing for McMichael, confirmed that the defendant accepted the relationship was now over.
Judge Geraint Walters set out the aggravating and mitigating factors of the offence, and asked the defence if they would object to the sentence he was considering.
“No, I wouldn’t,” Ms Walton said. She asked whether the judge needed to hear any further mitigation, to which he declined.
Addressing the defendant, Judge Walters said: “You have been quite a lot of trouble over the years for a relatively young man.
“There is one constant theme. You can lash out on occasions when you are perhaps wound up.
“You need to think about a better way of working with stress.
“There is more to life that coming back and forth to court.
“The case passes the custody threshold.”
Judge Walters sentenced McMichael to five months in prison. Because the defendant had been in custody since appearing at Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court on May 2, he will be released imminently.
His victim was granted a two-year restraining order against him, and he was acquitted of the strangulation offence.
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