A man was seen strangling his partner of seven years in her Warrington home while kneeling on her chest by her petrified young daughter, a court heard.
The child walked into the kitchen while Lee Peake was attacking her mum and began screaming, a court heard.
The victim told how she was not sure how long the attack lasted but her vision “went blurry”, she could not breathe and she was unsure what would have happened if her daughter had not walked in, said Jamie Baxter, prosecuting.
Peake aged 33, pleaded guilty to assaulting his former partner at her home in Warrington in March 2022 and another charge he had denied of engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour was ordered to lie on the file.
Mr Baxter told Liverpool Crown Court that the couple had been in a relationship for about seven years but by 2022 it had deteriorated. She told how he would threaten her, physically and verbally and was jealous and abusive.
She also revealed how he had strangled her previously but the last occasion the weekend before Mother’s Day “he’s never strangled me like that before.”
“He’s leant down, so he had his, like, knee on my chest and then strangling me crouched down. Then my daughter’s come in screaming.”
She continued, “After he stopped he just went back like it was normal. Just acted like it was normal, and then about an hour later he said sorry.”
When interviewed Peake, of Quayside, Leigh, gave a prepared statement denying any offence.
The court heard he had three previous convictions including failing to comply with a community order imposed for drink driving in February 2022.
In an impact statement the victim told how she has been seriously affected by his behaviour.
“When my children hug me, I don’t like them to do it. I don’t like wearing anything around my neck. This has affected my relationship with my children because I don’t like them doing this. I feel I don’t have the close contact with them anymore and they know something is wrong with me. “
She said she has sleeping problems and is afraid of going out in case she bumps into the defendant and has moved home several times.
“I am worried that if I see someone that Lee knows that they will tell him where I am and he will come and find me.
“I am worried about getting into another relationship in the future because of how Lee has treated me. I never want to put myself into another relationship again where something like this can happen again”.
Sentencing Peake, the judge Recorder Katie Jones said that she noted when he committed the offence he was subject to a community order.
“It was a disgraceful and frightening incident, attacking her in her own home.”
She said that there had been no provocation and it happened in the presence of children and it common sense that her daughter would be impacted by it. The judge said she took into consideration his mitigation that he is remorseful and is trying to sort out his drug problem and she was “just” persuaded that she could suspend a prison sentence.
She sentenced him to two years imprisonment suspended for two years and ordered him to attend a Building Better Relationships course and carry out 25 rehabilitation activity days and 200 hours unpaid work. Recorder Jones also imposed a ten-year restraining order to keep away from his victim.
