A thug who threw a coffee at his partner, pinned her to the floor, strangled her and asked her 'Do you want to die?' In a shocking attack has been jailed.
Christopher Gallone, 36, attacked his partner of three-and-a-half-years in June this year following a row over infidelity. Gallone accused his partner of cheating on him and called her a "s***."
Prosecutor Andrew Stranex told Leeds Crown Court on Thursday: "Before the events he had not been physically abusive but had been verbally. On 4th June 2022 they had an argument and he called her a 's***'
"The next day, the complainant woke up and asked him about the previous night and he became irritated and accused her of infidelity. He called her a 's***' and was asked to leave but didn't. He pushed and grabbed her about and spat in her face. He was asked repeatedly to leave but didn't. He threw a coffee in her face and body.
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"At some point, he had her on the floor with his hands around her neck. She said he strangled her while holding a knife and saying 'Do you want to f****** die?' She struggled to breathe and this went on for around 40 seconds and she tried to scream but couldn't."
After the assault, the couple agreed to be amicable to take their children to a fayre but that night Gallone, of Compton Crescent in Harehills, returned back to the family home drunk and threw rocks and stones at the window, smashing it. When police arrived, Gallone was taken to St James' Hospital where Mr Stranex said he was "abusive" and made "sexualised comments" before having to be restrained by officers.
He was interviewed on June 7 and denied the assault and criminal damage.
Mr Stranex said that in August and September last year the woman received messages from Gallone through others. Mr Stranex said: "She details how uncomfortable she was made to feel about having to get messages from others. The messages sent telling her to contact solicitors to withdraw her statement. The combination of messages and pressure was intimidating towards her. An attempt was made to interview him [Gallone] about this but he refused to leave his cell."
The court was told Gallone had previous convictions for common assault on an ex-partner, robbery and fraud. He was on bail at the time of the offences he was to be sentenced for on Thursday.
Mitigating, Mohammed Rafiq, told the court that Gallone himself suffered an injury to his right arm during the assault after being cut with a key. He said: "This is one of those situations where couples have been in a relationship, there are young children involved and he was concerned there were three young children and he wanted to see if he could salvage the relationship in any way."
The court heard Gallone has undertaken a number of courses while being remanded into custody. These include two clinical psychological courses involving the mental health team. Mr Rafiq said: "He needs to be a better person at the time he is released and he is obviously taking some acts doing that trying to deal with his anger management and other issues he obviously has and he realises that and he is deeply concerned that he may have great difficulty in seeing his children but he realises that if he does want to see he them has to do it prior.
"He apologises to the court for doing what he did and there is no previous domestic violence as such in terms of physical abuse. He has a record but not regarding this particular complainant."
Gallone was jailed for 25 months, less the time he has spent on remand, for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, criminal damage and intimidation. He had pleaded guilty to the offences at an earlier hearing.
He was also made the subject of a 10-year restraining order prohibiting him from contacting the victim directly or indirectly or attending at a location he believes she is present at.
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