A 48-YEAR-OLD man who committed two alcohol-fuelled assaults on the same woman – beating her so severely she feared she could be killed – has been jailed for 12 months.
In the second attack, Mark Gibbs dragged his victim around his flat before kicking her in the head and punching her in the face while she lay on the floor, leaving her with multiple bruises.
Magistrate Bridget Shaw described the assault as a ‘vicious and sustained attack’ and acknowledged that Gibbs had also assaulted the same victim in 2021.
Gibbs, who is an alcoholic, pleaded guilty to common assault and grave and criminal assault, as well as an unrelated charge of causing a public nuisance by urinating against a fence opposite a children’s play area at 11.15pm on 22 May.
Three days later Gibbs committed the common assault on the woman, headbutting her and injuring her left eye socket as they drank in a pub in town.
Hours later, Gibbs committed the grave and criminal assault – a prolonged attack which began when he punched the woman in her face.
Describing the attack, Advocate Sophie Lister said: ‘At the flat, Mr Gibbs was getting in [the victim’s] face. He punched her to the left eye socket. She said it felt like a closed fist.’
The advocate added that the victim ‘remembers Mr Gibbs dragging her around’ the flat, before hitting her again, causing her to fall on the floor, leaving her ‘in a very vulnerable position’.
The court was told that Gibbs then kicked the woman in the head, before climbing on top of her and repeatedly punching her.
Advocate Lister said the victim was unsure how many times she was hit and ‘does not know how she got out of the flat’.
‘I thought he would keep going until I was unresponsive or he killed me,’ the woman said in a statement read out by Advocate Lister.
The victim suffered multiple bruises, a cut lip and swelling to her head.
Advocate Estelle Burns, defending, urged Mrs Shaw to impose a community sentence and a probation order.
She said that her client suffered memory lapses because of his alcohol dependency and had ‘no clear recollection’ of what happened.
Advocate Burns said that the altercation at the pub started because the victim had taken Gibbs’ phone. She said that he ‘took himself away from the situation’ and returned to his flat.
The second assault only happened when the victim went to the flat and failed to return the phone, the advocate said.
‘Mr Gibbs fully recognises what he did was wrong. He has assured the court that this will never happen again,’ said Advocate Burns.
‘He’s willing to get any help available to him. He has been attending weekly drugs and alcohol sessions in prison.
‘Mr Gibbs stands before you an embarrassed man – a man who is embarrassed by his own behaviour.’
Referring to the 2021 assault, Mrs Shaw said that Gibbs ‘did not seek help at the time’ and had only started seeking help since he had been in custody.
She added: ‘You carried out a sustained assault, causing multiple injuries including kicks to the head.
‘When you were on top of her, the assault focused on her face. She thought that she might die. It must have been a truly terrifying experience.’
Gibbs was also sentenced to a five-year restraining order.
