A 51-YEAR-OLD man has been convicted of grave and criminal assault after kicking, punching and throttling a woman in a sustained attack.
A jury of seven men and five women unanimously found John Sebastian Nicolle guilty of the offence following a three-day trial in the Royal Court.
Crown Advocate Lauren Hallam, prosecuting, told the court that Nicolle had a history of violence, and in October 2020 received a 4½-year sentence for grave and criminal assault after stamping on another man’s head.
Advocate Hallam said of the most recent attack: “He slapped her and punched her and repeatedly kicked her as she lay curled up on the floor. He strangled her.”
He also kicked the woman’s dog during the attack.
Giving evidence on the first day of the trial, the victim also described being spat on, which she said was “disgusting”.
And she told the jury she curled up into a ball while being assaulted and begged Nicolle not to hit her.
Nicolle asserted that he was “not a violent man” and claimed the woman had made up the allegations.
But Advocate Hallam countered that if she had invented the allegations she would not have been so initially reluctant to report them.
Nicolle was due to return to court on Friday to hear the date for his sentencing.
Commissioner Alan Binnington was presiding.
