A 26-year old man who subjected his teenage girlfriend to an "appalling" campaign of cohesive control was jailed today.
The young victim was left permanently scarred due to several violent attacks upon her by Jared Whitehouse over a five-month period.
Whitehouse appeared at Downpatrick Crown Court, sitting in Belfast, via videolink with Maghaberry, and was sentenced to four-and-a-half years to be divided equally between prison and licence.
The first incident occurred on March 12 2021 when the then 16-year old victim and Whitehouse lived in the Botanic area of Belfast.
The teenager said after rowing about cheating, Whitehouse threw a wax melt at her head and kicked her in the stomach.
Five days later, after a night out socialising, Whitehouse had to carry her home after her drink was spiked. He hit her on the head with a Buckfast bottle, which caused her to pass out and he slashed her arm.
The couple moved to Bangor, and on August 10 a drunk Whitehouse pushed and punched her to the stomach.
The victim told police during another attack, she was pinned to the bed, punched, threatened and spat in the face. Whitehouse also smashed a glass over her head, put his foot on the back of her neck, bit her and burned her with a cigarette.
Whitehouse was arrested and initially denied he had assaulted his partner on August 15 and on previous occasions.
He was charged with a series of charges including assault occasioning actual bodily harm, common assault and threats to kill and subsequently pleaded guilty to eight offences.
In her victim impact statement, the teenager - now 18 - said she has been left with scarring to her face, arms and hands and now suffers seizures.
The court heard Whitehouse - who is from Bradford - had drug misuse issues and an "extensive record of offending in England", but had recently passed a drugs test and acknowledges the harm he caused his victim.
Judge Geoffery Miller KC described Whitehouse's behaviour as "appalling" adding "over a period of several months he exercised a bullying and cohesive control".
The judge also made Whitehouse the subject of a five-year violent offenders prevention order.
