A woman was left with bruises all over her body after she was stamped on, punched, headbutted and choked in a prolonged domestic attack.
Kevin Joseph Morrison, 40, was normally “placid” and had not been violent before in his two-year relationship.
Despite the violent attack, Morrison avoided being sent to jail.
A Teesside domestic violence charity has now raised concerns that such a sentence could potentially discourage other victims from coming forward.
Morrison launched his assault after arguing with his partner about whether he could smoke inside, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Both were vulnerable and had mental health difficulties, said prosecutor Liam O’Brien.
Morrison turned violent when she asked him to leave her Middlesbrough home at about 4.30pm on August 9.
He said “I’m going to choke you”, grabbed her around the neck with both hands and squeezed, the court was told.
Mr O’Brien described an assault where Morrison grabbed, pushed, headbutted and stamped on her and screamed in her face.
He tried to rip clothes in her wardrobe, pulled her on to a bed and “landed” on top of her, breaking slats under the bed.
He tried to choke her again, and when she said she would call the police, he replied: “What are they going to do?
“There won’t be any marks. They’ll think it’s funny because you’re mentally ill.”
He punched her to the nose and stamped on her chest three times after she fell to the floor bleeding, the court was told.
“She thought she was going to have a heart attack. She couldn’t breathe or speak,” said Mr O’Brien.
He told how they ended up in the bathroom where the woman was pushed towards a bath full of water.
Morrison left the home taking the victim’s medications with him.
She later said in a statement read out in court that she since felt afraid and nervous, struggled to sleep and had nightmares.
She said the attack worsened her bipolar disorder symptoms, she felt low more frequently and self-harmed, but she hoped she could start living her life again.
Morrison, of Northfleet Avenue, Brambles Farm, Middlesbrough, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm - his first conviction for violence - and theft.
Michael Bosomworth, defending, said: “This offence was out of character.
“The reality is that this incident stems from a relationship which was frankly a recipe for disaster. Both have severe mental health problems.
“She was very dependent on him.”
Morrison came from a entirely respectable family but his life was blighted in 1995, when he was attacked while walking a girlfriend across a park.
He was “opiate-addicted for some time” but managed to stay largely out of trouble, added Mr Bosomworth.
He said the “lesser injuries” showed “the degree of force or lack of it” used in the assault.
He said the victim had persistently contacted Morrison with 130 messages or missed calls since the “very unpleasant incident”.
The relationship was over and Morrison was “unlikely to darken the doors of the court again”.
The judge, Recorder Jonathan Aitken, told Morrison: “This was a disgraceful incident. This was quite a long period of fear for the victim.
“She has received injuries. Whilst they are not more serious injuries, there are bruises all over her body.
“She clearly was subjected to repeated blows by you.
“You do not generally behave like this at all. You’ve managed to control yourself despite the difficulties you’ve suffered.”
Morrison was given a three-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months with supervision and a five-year restraining order banning him from contacting his ex.
Responding to the sentence, Richinda Taylor, chief executive of domestic violence charity Eva Women’s Aid in Redcar said: “It is certainly not going to encourage other victims to come forward but the positive is that at least he will have to work with the Probation Service in the mean time and address his offending that way during that time.”
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