A violent boyfriend put his pregnant partner and her autistic toddler through hell in a series of attacks.
Kyle Campbell began to insult the three-year-old while staying at his partner’s home when the boy, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism, sprinkled too much garlic salt on the potatoes they were having for dinner.
When she asked him not speak to her son like that, Campbell threw the glass bottle containing the condiment at her and hit her square in the mouth, damaging some of her teeth. He then blamed her for it for “not ducking”.
A sentencing hearing at Truro Crown Court on February 21 heard how after the incident in August last year, Campbell’s partner didn’t call the police despite it being the second bout of violence against her in two months. Instead she thought it would remain an isolated case and Campbell “would change his ways”, reports Cornwall Live.
However a month later, as his partner had just got back to her home with her son, Campbell walked out of the house and sulked outside for a couple of hours.
After she put her son to bed the 29-year-old stormed back into the house and accused his partner of not giving him any money so he could go on holiday with his dad to Weymouth. He started becoming aggressive and verbally abusive and whinging that “nobody loves him and nobody cares about him”.
The incident escalated when he mocked her weight and, as she tried to remove a bottle of beer from his hand as he was drunk, he poured the rest of the beer over her head and smeared it onto her face calling her a “fat slag” and a “pig”.
It was then that Campbell proceeded to smash up his partner’s place, damaging items in the kitchen, like her kettle, ripping a school portrait of her son and pouring milk over a pile of clothes.
The court was told that he then grabbed her by the hair and dragged her along the floor into the hallway. He put his partner, who has since had a miscarriage, into a chokehold with his arm and she lost consciousness for a few seconds.
When she managed to escape, Campbell got on top of her and grabbed her by the throat with one hand and punched her face with the other. She managed to free herself but Campbell grabbed her again by the hair accusing her of “getting pregnant on purpose”.
His victim went to pick up her son from his bedroom and as both were in tears Campbell shouted at the terrified boy. The court was told that as she was leaving her own home he kicked her in the back causing her and her son to fall down some concrete steps. He kicked her once more as she was on the ground.
Finally his victim and her son were able to flee to a friend’s house who called the police. The court was told that the most serious incident had gone on for an hour and had left the boy and his mum in terror of Campbell.
In a victim impact statement read out in court, she said she has suffered from anxiety as a result and her son is now scared and won’t sleep in his room without the door being left open because he is too worried anything like this will happen again.
She said she had to have extra support put in place for him at school after he witnessed the domestic abuse. She added: “The impact on my son has been astronomical. He keeps talking about Kyle kicking mummy.”
Campbell was arrested in September after the latest bout of violence and assaulted his arresting police officer in the process by headbutting him. He blamed his partner for everything in police interviews even saying the injuries he inflicted must have been received at her work in a sweet shop.
He was later charged with one count of causing actual bodily harm, two counts of assault by beating, one count of criminal damage, one count of assaulting an emergency worker and one count of intentional strangulation. He pleaded guilty to all charges when he appeared before Bodmin Magistrates’ Court in December last year.
The court was told that Campbell had 11 previous convictions for 14 offences including four offences against the person such as common assault and battery on an ex partner.
His barrister said it had been alcohol that had made him behave in such a terrible way, adding that he had not committed any other offences since last September and he had stopped smoking cannabis and drinking. He added: “He will go to prison. He understands that.”
His Honour Judge Simon Carr said Campbell had assaulted his partner for no reason through drinking too much and had lost his temper. He said: “This was not an isolated incident. The latest incident was a sustained assault on your partner. You struck her and grabbed her by the hair and choked her and pushed her down concrete steps. You headbutted the police officer who was trying to arrest you.
“You have a terrible record for violence.”
He sentenced Campbell to 21 months in prison. He will serve 40 per cent before being released on licence. He also imposed a restraining order on him for 10 years not to contact his former partner.