A thug who remains at large brutally beat his ex partner with her crutches after fracturing her ankle with a pool cue. He also threatened to cut off her fingers with a secateurs.
Elvis Price, 46, repeatedly assaulted his victim at the Kings Arms pub in Ebbw Vale where they lived. After breaking her ankle, he refused to let her go to hospital until a couple of weeks later and told her to lie about what had happened to her.
A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Monday heard the victim was seen in the street on May 10, 2022 with a significant amount of bruises to her face and a protective boot on one of her legs. She was upset and was asking to be taken to hospital.
The police were called and spoke to the woman, but initially she did not want the defendant to be alerted, such was her fear. She was taken to the Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil where she received treatment for bruises to her face, back, forearm, tenderness to her abdomen and crutch marks to her upper back.
Prosecutor Byron Broadstock said the victim was interviewed by police and said she had been living at the pub with Price, even after the end of their relationship and the defendant’s new partner also moving into the pub. She described Price as “controlling and angry” who would erupt if he had suspicions of her keeping information from him.
On May 9, 2022 the defendant became aware of correspondence in relation to the victim’s pension and he became angry. He assaulted her by slapping and punching her and when she went to the floor he kicked her, spat in her face three or four times and smashed up her phone, which he pushed into her face.
He told the victim to “pack her things”, but as she did so he came into her room and assaulted her again by “belting her” with her own crutch. Price beat her across her shoulders, back and side and when she put her arms up to protect herself he instructed her to put them down. The defendant also threatened to cut her fingers off with secateurs he was holding and she had to move her hand to prevent him from doing so.
There had been earlier assaults in April 2022 when Price had assaulted the victim with a pool cue in the function room of the pub, which fractured her left ankle and caused bruises to her forearm. She was not allowed to go to hospital until a couple of weeks later, when she told the defendant she was in significant pain, but she was forced to tell staff it had been caused by an “accident”.
Upon returning from hospital, the victim was assaulted again when Price used her crutch to strike her legs, arms and back, causing her bruises. He was arrested on May 10, 2022 and made no comment in his police interview. He failed to attend court for his trial and was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and three counts of assault in his absence. The defendant remains at large.
In a victim personal statement read to the court, the victim said she believed Price had sought to control her during the trial process by not turning up to court. She said: “The relief of the court case going ahead didn’t prepare me for the shock of seeing photographs of my injuries and how awful they were, I cried. The beatings were so regular I became desensitised. Seeing those injuries made me physically sick. I have lost the person I was and I will never be that person again. I live in daily paranoia not knowing where he is and fear for the future.”
Sentencing, Recorder Dyfed Thomas described the defendant’s actions as “brutal, cowardly assaults”. He sentenced Price to a total of six years imprisonment, which will come into force once he has been apprehended by the police.
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