Cardiff man threatened ex-partner with Rambo style knife after putting her in chokehold

A man strangled his ex-partner until she was on the verge of passing out and then threatened her with a Rambo-style knife to drop charges against him.

Kyle Gonzales' ex-partner said she thought she was "going to die" during the assault.

Gonzales, 35, from Cardiff, had been with his victim since April 2022 as he effectively "took over her home" and emotionally and physically abused her.

He then went on to physically abuse and strangle her.

A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court heard Gonzales slapped her face about five or six times.

When his former partner, having felt immediate pain, said "Is that all you have got?" and punched Gonzales once to the ear, he struck her to the floor and punched her in the ribs repeatedly while slapping her in the face.

Gonzales then approached her from behind and placed her in a chokehold.

The defendant then released his hand from her throat and gave the victim her asthma inhaler but she continued struggling to breathe and felt "lifeless".

The police were called and officers removed the defendant from his former partner's flat.

After being released on bail Gonzales bombarded her with phone calls, asked to be let into her flat and asked her to go to his sister's house, before later arriving at the victim's home armed with a Rambo-style knife.

He waved the knife around and took it in and out of its cover, telling his former partner to drop the charges against him.

He said: "You're nothing, you need to sort your life out, you're a mess, you have got nothing, why don't you just hurry up and die."

After the police were called, Gonzales threw the knife out of the window before jumping out of it himself.

The knife was later found in a garden and the defendant was arrested.

Gonzales, of Snowden Road, Ely, later pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and witness intimidation.

In mitigation, defence barrister William Bebb said his client struggled with his mental health and had a long-standing diagnosis for anxiety, depression and a personality disorder related to traumatic experiences in his childhood.

He said Gonzales had turned to alcohol and drug misuse, and was homeless and sofa surfing.

Sentencing, Recorder Alun Eynon-Evans said the victim had described how she can "no longer cope" and said Gonzales had "destroyed her as a person".

He sentenced the defendant to a total of 40 months in prison.

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