Woman forced to kick strangling Leeds partner to get him off her during breakfast row
A violent partner punched and throttled a woman after he refused to make breakfast.
Enraged Robert Wellbourne then threw and smashed a TV and a vacuum cleaner, before racially abusing and spitting at police officers who arrived to arrest him.
The 36-year-old appeared at Leeds Crown Court this week from custody where he admitted ABH, strangulation, criminal damage, racially-aggravated harassment and assaulting an emergency worker.
On the morning of November 30 last year, they were in the bedroom of their home in West Ardsley when the woman asked him to make breakfast, which he refused to do and an argument broke out.
Wellbourne pinned the woman to the bed and punched her to the face multiple times. He gripped her around the neck for around 10 seconds, prosecutor Zanisha Herbert told the court.
The woman was able to then kick out enough times for Wellbourne to release his grip. He continued to make threats and picked up a TV and hurled it at the bedroom wall, causing it to smash.
He then picked up the vacuum cleaner and threw it, causing a mirror to smash. The couple’s children ran from the house in terror and the police were called.
Wellbourne was arrested and transported to Leeds General Infirmary after it was thought he had taken an overdose of diazepam.
But he became irate and began to verbally abuse one of the officers, calling him a “black c***”, saying his race were “nonces” and called him a “curry muncher”.
He then tried to spit at the officer.
The court heard that Wellbourne, of no fixed address, has 12 previous convictions for 20 offences, including battery, threats to kill and having a bladed article in public.
Mitigating, Aimilia Katsoulakis said Wellbourne had “demonstrated genuine remorse” and added: “He is deeply ashamed of his behaviour towards the complainant and with children present.
“He struggles to articulate emotion rather than have a lack of insight.
“This is a genuine turning point, he has accepted responsibility for his actions without deflecting blame. He has demonstrated motivation to change.”
She said he suffered the sudden loss of his mother and was using drugs and alcohol, which Ms Katsoulakis said was the “driver” behind his offending.
Judge Ray Singh questioned his remorse, pointing out that he denied that matter at first and only admitted the charges once it had reached crown court.
He said his actions that day “showed the calibre of the person” he is.
He jailed him for 30 months and gave him a five-year restraining order to keep him away from his ex partner.