Mansfield man threatened to kill ex while reaching for knife drawer and punching teenage son
A Mansfield man who threatened to kill his ex-partner while reaching for a knife drawer also injured her teenage son by punching him in the ribs when he tried to defend her, a court has heard.
Gareth Wheatcroft accosted the woman when she left her house, at 10.30pm on October 14 last year, but she refused to talk to him, said Catherine Wilson, prosecuting.
Their three-month relationship had ended in January, but when she told him she was seeing someone else he shoved her inside her home.
He dragged her into the kitchen and pinned her with one hand to the floor, while reaching for a kitchen drawer and shouting, “I am going to kill you.”
“She felt numb and panicked,” said Ms Wilson. “Her children were upstairs.”
The drawers were child-locked so Wheatcroft was unable to open any of them.
When her eldest son came downstairs and tried to push him outside, Wheatcroft, aged 39, punched him in the right side of his ribs.
Mother and son managed to eject him from their home on Chesterfield Road South, and he threatened to come back with a knife before simply walking away.
His ex-partner was left with bruising, swelling, and a cut finger, and her son had bruised ribs for three weeks.
Wheatcroft told police he had been hit 20-30 times and went to hospital with his injuries afterwards.
Katherine MacMillan, mitigating, said Wheatcroft came off worse in the altercation, sustaining a ripped earlobe and a split lip. He had contacted the police first, but was “upset at their attitude.”
“He has fully abided by court bail and has no plans to reconnect with her,” said Ms MacMillan. “He has moved on with his life. He just wishes he could turn back the clock so it never happened.”
She said had he had known the woman for 15 years as a friend, but has since started a new relationship.
Wheatcroft, of Hobhouse Road, Mansfield, denied assault causing actual bodily harm, and assault by beating, but was convicted after a trial at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on August 8.
On Tuesday he received 12 weeks, suspended for 12 months, with 20 rehabilitation days. He must pay £625 costs and a £154 surcharge. A two-year restraining order was imposed.