Monday, December 1, 2014

Man hurled plastic ball into little boy’s face when he disobeyed order to shut a door


A released prisoner who terrorised his girlfriend and her young family has been banned from contacting them ever again.


The victim's relationship with Sean Tomes had a romantic beginning when they rekindled their childhood romance this summer.


The 29-year-old from Eston moved in with her, her baby and a two-year-old son in Middlesbrough.


But within a month he became violent.


Prosecutor Paul Newcombe told Teesside Crown Court today that Tomes grabbed her by the throat and pushed her onto a settee.


Two months later he hurled a plastic ball into the little boy’s face when he did not obey an order to shut a door.


The mother said that she was leaving and she began to gather her clothes and the children, but he raged at her driving her into the garden.


He grabbed her hair and dragged her back into the house, and she struck her arm on a wall as she tried to protect herself.


A neighbour heard her screaming “No, Sean” in a chilling episode of domestic violence that lasted an hour.


Mr Newcombe said that Tomes, who appeared in court via a video link with Holme House prison, Stockton, also yelled at her that he was going to set fire to the woman’s neighbour’s house.


Tomes had been jailed three times for battery and assault since 2008.


Mr Newcombe added: “The injured party speaks of the impact that it has had on her.


“She had been trying to end the relationship for some time and she is extremely nervous and anxious, and she is particularly worried what he will do when he is released from prison.


“Her little boy has suffered panic attacks.”


Kieron Rainey, defending, said that Tomes had not long been released from prison when he moved in with her and he had a good relationship with the children.


But he had a long-standing Subutex drugs habit, and he was asked to do jobs around the house which placed a strain on him, but it was no excuse.


Mr Rainey added: “He found himself extremely strained and his temper was frayed around the edges.


“It came to the point where they had arguments and he accepts that he went too far.”


Tomes was being prescribed methadone in prison to end his Subtex addiction, and if he could keep off drugs and alcohol on his release he had been promised a final chance by his mother, who was involved in child protection, and by the rest of his family.


The judge told him that the woman and her children had been very upset by his violence and outbursts.


Judge Howard Crowson said: “The two children were both very upset by it, and one of them being only two years old was faced with a very angry man who threw a ball into his face.


“If we meet again and you are violent towards another partner the sentence will be longer.”


Tomes, of Fabian Road, was jailed for 10 months and given an indefinite restraining order banning him from approaching within 100 metres of the family’s home.


He pleaded guilty to putting a person in fear of violence by harassment between April and August, and actual bodily harm assault on the boy on August 2.



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