Man forced girl, 8, to drink washing up liquid and tried to strangle her mother
A man forced an eight-year-old girl to drink washing up liquid and tried to strangle her mother, before rubbing himself with sandpaper and blaming the mother for making him do it, a court heard.Dalton Jefferies, 22, of Cwr Y Coed, Llangefni, pleaded guilty to using controlling and coercive behaviour and was jailed at Caernarfon Crown Court yesterday (October 12) for two-and-a-half years.
He was also given a 15-month jail term for child cruelty, to run concurrently. He was made subject to a 20-year restraining order not to contact his victims.Prosecutor, Anna Pope, said Jefferies had been in a relationship with the woman for four months from July to October last year. It began well but soon deteriorated. He had outbursts of temper and caused her physical and psychological harm.
The prosecutor said he demeaned the woman in front of her friends, banned her from taking her phone with her when she went out of the room, lashed out at furniture and even tried to strangle her.She also said Jefferies would self-harm by rubbing himself with sandpaper and opening a car door at 50mph, scraping his foot on the ground. He tried to blame the woman for his actions and the damage to his trainers.As for the girl, she witnessed the defendant's outbursts of temper and his self-harming. He would call her stupid and she was frightened of him. The prosecutor added that Jefferies would force her cheeks together to open her mouth to make her drink washing up liquid. It gave her a tummy ache and made her sick, the court heard.But from September last year the girl starting speaking about her experiences at school. The woman too made recordings of the defendant's behaviour. In one clip, he threatened "to chew her tongue off".Police arrested Jefferies last October and he later admitted the offences.Philip Clemo, defending, said his client, who appeared on a link from HMP Berwyn, had a difficult background and has a personality disorder. He said: "He does not want to use his appalling childhood and mental health issues as an excuse when he's sitting on a bench on a video link talking to a Crown Court judge for the rest of his life. He wants to do better than that."But the judge His Honour Timothy Petts told Jefferies: "What you did to both of the (victims) was awful." He inflicted physical and psychological impact on the woman and the psychological impact on both victims is ongoing, he added.
"It's clear you had a very difficult upbringing. But you are now an adult and need to behave rather better. You have shown minimal remorse, blaming (the woman) for what happened for most of the time."He jailed the defendant and imposed the restraining order prohibiting him from contacting the mother or daughter, from going to their premises and from entering data on the internet about them - all for the next 20 years. .He added: "If you breach this restraining order a custodial sentence is likely to follow."Detective Sergeant Adam Sergeant, of North Wales Police, welcomed the sentences. He said: "Tackling Domestic Abuse remains a priority for North Wales Police. This sentence is welcomed because not only does it reinforce that abhorrent behaviour such as this is unlawful and will be punished, but hopefully will build confidence in others to report to us if they themselves, or someone they know is a victim of coercive and controlling behaviour."The restraining order is also welcomed as this will provide additional protection to Jefferies’ victims."