Girlfriend strangled because of lesbian past wasn’t first case, court told
A jealous boyfriend accused of strangling his girlfriend in a rage over her lesbian past held similar convictions previously, a court has been told.
Steven Wallace, 40, denies the attempted murder of Wendy Brown, 30, but yesterday saw previous convictions of grievous bodily harm read to the jury.
Teeside Crown Court heard that Mr Wallace pleaded guilty in 2003 to unlawfully causing grievous bodily harm after breaking a woman’s jaw and two offences of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in another relationship.
The judge Mr Justice Simon told jurors that the previous convictions didn’t mean he had carried out this one.
Richard Newbury, prosecuting said: “The defendant grabbed her (Mrs Brown’s) throat with both hands and she described how he pressed all of his body weight through his hands onto her throat.
“She could not breathe and was unable to struggle free. She lapsed in and out of consciousness and eventually blacked out.
“It is the Crown’s case that the defendant was attempting to kill her.”
He said Mr Wallace refused to take Ms Brown to hospital, but agreed after she promised not to blame him in the attack.
The jury heard Mr Wallace became jealous when Ms Brown would receive text messages from her former partner. The court was also told that he had been violent and aggressive on a night out in Hartlepool and unleashed a “barrage of abuse” when they returned home.
Mrs Brown gave evidence yesterday and told the court her account had been a lie and she planned to marry the defendant.
The case continues.
