Hartlepool man left partner bloody and beaten while baby slept close by

Teesside Crown Court heard the terrified victim took two baths to wash away the blood from her body after the attack by Paul Amerigo, 39, who also threatened her mother and a friend who went to her aid.

He attacked the young mum in her home at in the early hours of January 31 after they returned from a rare night out together.

Chris Baker, prosecuting, told Teesside Crown Court that Amerigo, of York Road, Hartlepool, punched the woman in the face causing blood to pour from her nose and, when she fell to the floor, rained kicks on her head, body and abdomen.

Mr Baker said: “She had to have two baths to clean herself up and he ordered her to go to bed. She went to a neighbour’s home and the woman returned with her. Amerigo was still aggressive. Her mother also attended and he was aggressive to her.”

The victim was treated in hospital for cuts after the attack and she said in a Victim statement that she was left terrified to be in her own home and she had changed all the locks.

Mr Baker said that the aggravating features of the attack were the sustained assault with a shod foot as a weapon in her own home that had an on-going effect on her.

The woman said that she was angry that Amerigo had tried to blame her when he gave evidence during his two day trial.

A jury found him guilty on October 5 of actual bodily harm.

He was cleared of common assault.

Ian Hutson, defending, said that Amerigo had no previous convictions for violence and the victim had told police on the night that he “flipped”.

Mr Hutson told the judge: “He is a first-time offender for violence, and terrible though they are he has been convicted of kicking and stamping but it was never put how many there were.

“They were out for a rare night out and suddenly it kicked off. It was an absolutely dreadful act in drink.

“Yes, send him to jail where he belongs, but you can’t be sure that it was a Category One offence as claimed by the Crown.”

Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC told Amerigo: “You were convicted by a jury on overwhelming evidence of assaulting your partner, and what you did in drink was to degrade her and humiliate her and you assaulted her with your fists and your feet.

“You showed no remorse and your whole attitude is consistent with someone who assaults his partner, and you attacked a defenceless and vulnerable woman in her own home.”

Amerigo was jailed fro 15 months and the judge imposed an indefinite restraining order banning him from contacting her or going within 100 yards of her home.