A thug who punched his pregnant girlfriend in the stomach and hit his own baby has walked free from court.
Mark Bond drunkenly attacked his expectant partner before assaulting her again after she gave birth. The mum had been holding their two-week-old daughter at the time, with some of his blows striking the tiny girl.
Liverpool Crown Court heard yesterday afternoon, Tuesday, that the 31-year-old had been in a relationship with his then girlfriend, who was eight weeks pregnant, for around six months when he attended her home in St Helens on the morning of May 27 last year. Louise Santamera, prosecuting, described how Bond "appeared to be under the influence of alcohol" at this time and was slurring his words.
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While the couple argued over his drinking, the rest of the day was described as "uneventful". He later returned from playing football with her three-year-old son at around 7.30pm, at which point she took the boy to bed.
But Bond, of Whitbeam Close in Runcorn, followed her upstairs "insisting" that she cook his tea instead. He started hitting her in the legs at this point, then began to punch her in the stomach.
Sickeningly, the defendant then made two fists with his hands and placed them on her midriff before using them to push himself up from the bed - causing her "extreme pain". Bond subsequently told her he was leaving and began packing a bag, but then turned violent again - pushing her and threatening to burn down the house with her inside.
He continued his horrific assault by headbutting her, causing a nosebleed, then grabbing her by the neck. His attack eventually came to an end when he punched a wall and left slamming the front door, causing the lock to break.
The victim attended Warrington Hospital the following day, but scans thankfully revealed that the unborn child had not been harmed. Bond was then arrested at his home address.
Under interview, he accepted drinking a bottle-and-a-half of wine before his arrival at the property but denied attacking her. The abuser claimed he had accidentally leaned on his partner's stomach when getting out of bed and "apologised straight away" but a row then ensued, while he gave an account that she may have been hit on nose when he shut the door upon leaving.
Bond was later released on bail pending further investigations. By January 14 this year, the baby had been born and was two weeks old.
When the complainant took the young child to bed in the evening, her boyfriend was already asleep. But Bond was awoken and another argument erupted over his drinking.
He "became angry" following this and began hitting their French bulldog. When she shouted for him to stop, he turned his attentions to her and hit her to the arms and back of the head.
The baby had been placed on the left-hand side of her chest at this time, and an undefined number of these blows "landed on her". The mother managed to phone the police as Bond continued to attack her, again punching her to the back of the head.
He then stopped assaulting her when he realised that she had dialled 999. Police attended the scene and were shown a scratch mark on that baby's head, then went upstairs to find him asleep and arrested him.
Bond again denied subjecting his girlfriend to any violence, saying that he had earlier consumed a bottle of wine before they argued and he went back to sleep. He also claimed to have merely been trying to push the dog off the bed and said he had not punched it.
The mum and baby were taken to hospital following the incident. Neither suffered any serious injury.
Bond, who was represented in court by Kate Morley and was described as "having a real problem with drink and violence towards partners", previously received a youth referral order for a domestic assault in 2009. He "accepted one of his punches must have connected" with the baby and that "his actions were reckless but not deliberate".
Bond was previously found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm after a trial at Liverpool Magistrates' Court, while he admitted criminal damage and assault. He was handed a 12-month imprisonment suspended for 18 months.
Sentencing, the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC said: "It is clear that you are someone who has a real problem with drink and, as a consequence of that no doubt, a particular issue with violence towards partners with whom you are having an intimate relationship. Your conduct in relation to her was outrageous.
"It was simply arrogant, bullying, drunken behaviour. She was on the receiving end of physical violence from you when you lost your temper.
"For no good reason at all, you began to hit her and punch her to the stomach. That was the way you behaved in drink towards someone who you were meant to care for.
"While on bail, she was then holding this two-week-old child - your child - and you again in temper hit out at her, striking her and at some time striking the baby. It is outrageous behaviour.
"There is a more constructive alternative. It seems to me that this is a situation where you and society would benefit from an alternative to immediate custody."
Bond was also told to complete a 120-day alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement, a relationships programme and a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 20 days. A restraining order will ban him from contacting his victim or entering her street for the next two years.
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