A judge gas branded a 30-year-old man who assaulted and abused his partner a “violent bully” who is “immaturely jealous” and who has childish temper tantrums when he doesn’t get his own way. The judge said courts will do all they can to protect women from men like Michael O’Connell.
Swansea Crown Court heard that in addition to physically assaulting his partner the defendant sought to undermine her confidence, threatened to throw acid over her, and constantly accused her of being unfaithful to him. O’Connell’s barrister told the court his client realised he had issues in his life which needed to be addressed.
Alycia Carpanini, prosecuting, told the court about three specific assaults by O’Connell which occurred during 2023. She said the first occurred after the defendant and his partner went to the Plough and Harrow pub in Llangyfelach then drove to Porthcawl. She said O’Connell wanted to finish the night in the bars on Swansea’s Wind Street but his partner wanted to go home, so the defendant told her to drive him to Wind Street and drop him off. When the partner refused to taxi him into Swansea city centre O’Connell started verbally abusing the woman in the car park calling her a “fat selfish ****” before grabbing her head and shaking it violently from side-to-side while threatening to bite her nose off. The court heard the defendant then repeatedly punched the woman in the face.
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The court heard O’Connell subsequently said he no longer wanted to go to Wind Street and the pair drove back to Swansea but he assaulted the woman again after they had stopped the car in the West Cross area. O’Connell grabbed the woman by the hair and pulled out clumps of her hair out while punching her in the face. The assault only came to an end when the woman accidentally sounded the car horn drawing attention to the struggle in the vehicle.
The court heard the second attack happened in Loughor when an argument erupted over the defendant’s partner looking at her phone. The woman left the room to try to defuse matters but the defendant followed her and “cornered” her in the bathroom where he began pushing and shoving the woman before putting his hands over her nose and mouth. During the ensuing struggle O’Connell ripped out his partner’s false eyelashes and she was left with cuts to her lip and nose.
The third assault – which happened at the defendant’s house in Llanelli – saw him pushing his partner into a coffee table and then throwing a hard plastic bottle at her. When the catalogue of offending was reported to the police the defendant was arrested and denied the allegations before answering “no comment” to all questions asked. For the latest court reports, sign up to our crime newsletter here
In an impact statement from the victim which was read to the court the woman said she was no longer the person she was before she met the defendant. She said she used to be outgoing and people would comment on her “infectious laugh” but now all that had changed. She said she knew O’Connell had been to prison in the past but believed “everyone deserved a second chance” – though she didn’t realise the defendant had already been given “three or four chances”. She said in the beginning the defendant was kind and made her feel special but then he started manipulating, threating, and abusing her and would constantly accuse of having affairs with work colleagues and would threaten to throw acid at her. The woman said her relationship with O’Connell has made her see the world differently.
Michael O’Connell, of Heol y Parc, Cefneithin, Llanelli, had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) and one count of assault by beating when he returned to the dock for sentencing. He has 15 previous convictions for 29 offences including battery, ABH, and inflicting grievous bodily harm. At the time of the new offending he was out of prison licence following a previous conviction for drugs offences.
Matt Murphy, for O’Connell, said the defendant was “disappointed” at the conclusions of the pre-sentence report and said his client realised there were issues in his life which needed to be addressed. He said O’Connell wanted to offer a “full and unreserved apology” for his behaviour. He said the defendant was a well-thought-of civil engineer and said his job in the Ammanford area had been kept open for him during the court proceedings, though that situation could not be maintained for much longer.
Judge Paul Thomas KC told the defendant it was clear from the facts of the offending that he was a “violent bully” who was “immaturely jealous” and had childish temper tantrums when he couldn’t get his own way. He said O’Connell needed to understand that the court would do whatever they could to protect women from people like him. With a 15 per cent discount for his guilty pleas the defendant was sentenced to two years in prison. He will serve up to half the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
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