Prison for Mansfield thug who brutally assaulted partner while she held their baby son
A Mansfield “coward” who brutally assaulted his partner while she held their baby son in her arms continued to attack and abuse her while on bail, a court has heard.
Craig Knight began poking his partner of four years in the face after she asked him if he’d been to the pub, and backed her into the kitchen while accusing her of cheating, said Laura Pitman, prosecuting.
Knight punched her so hard in the face he caused a lump and split lip, before kneeing her in the leg and kicking her in the shin with steel toe-capped boots, on September 26 last year.
He had been released from prison earlier in 2024 for previous attacks on the same woman. She told police “she felt there was no way out of the relationship.”
Knight, 39, finally handed himself into police in November, and made no comment.
While on bail he awoke early on July 19 this year, after a night of drinking, and accused the woman of owing someone £80.
When she denied it, he punched her in the right side of her face. She fell between the bed and the cot, injuring her right fingernail which was later removed at hospital.
Knight punched the bedroom door, causing damage, and grabbed her phone to prevent her calling the police. She fled to a neighbour’s house in her underwear.
In a statement she said she “feels the life has been sucked out of her,” has lost three stones in weight, and “feels he is a risk to her and her children.”
“He struggles to manage his emotions and anger,” said Matthew Smith, mitigating. “He has behaved appallingly. He recognises he needs a clean break. He wants to tackle long standing issues. He is starting to understand this can't go on."
Knight, of Portland Street, New Houghton, Mansfield, admitted assault and criminal damage, and two counts of assault causing actual bodily harm, at previous hearings.
He received an 18-month prison sentence, and a five-year restraining order was imposed.
On Tuesday, Judge Mark Watson listed his “appaling record” of previous convictions, including dishonesty, drugs, and violence.
“You are someone for whom domestic violence has become a way of life,” he told Knight. “It was a cowardly attack.”
He imposed an 18 month prison sentence, and a five-year restraining order.