Joshua James Crabtree had been in the passenger seat of the parked car when he and the female driver got into an argument, the Royal Court heard.
Crabtree took the woman’s keys from the ignition and when she leant across to grab them back, he struck her with the back of his hand before biting her arm.
The 24-year-old, who has a string of previous assault charges, had a few days earlier grabbed the same woman during an argument at the Royal Yacht nightclub causing bruising to her arm.
Crabtree, who admitted one count of common assault and one count of grave and criminal assault, was jailed for 18 months and given a five-year restraining order.
The court heard that the pair, and another friend, had been on a night out when they got into an argument and as the victim walked away, Crabtree grabbed her arm ‘twisting the skin’ causing bruising.
Just days later while in the car together, Crabtree committed the more serious assault, causing a black eye and bruising to her face as well as bruising to her upper arm from the bite. Crabtree claimed that after he grabbed the car keys, the victim had bitten him first.
In court, a letter from the victim was read out which said that she was ‘fearful of what the defendant might do in the future’ and that she wanted the defendant to be kept away from her and her family.
Solicitor General Mark Temple, prosecuting, described the assault as ‘serious’. He said the blows were ‘hard to the face’ and the bite was ‘hard enough to cause bruising through thick clothing’.
Advocate James Bell, defending, said: ‘Mr Crabtree is not a hopeless case – he does have potential. In the last year he has from time-to-time been in employment in the building trade and he does have hope for the future.
‘I ask the court to give him perhaps some light at the end of the tunnel.’
Delivering the court’s sentence, Deputy Bailiff Tim Le Cocq, presiding, said the two offences had been of ‘increasing severity and seriousness in a short period’.
‘There can be no excuse for behaviour like this,’ he said. ‘Even though the victim may have bitten you on the arm, there was no element of self-defence.
‘You have a lengthy criminal record – mostly for violence, some against women.’
Jurats Mike Liston and Jerry Ramsden were sitting.
