Sheffield woman feared she would die at hands of partner during 'cycle of violence'

Sheffield Crown Court heard on January 24 how Nathan Beebe, aged 20, of Lupton Road, Low Edges, Sheffield, accused his partner of cheating on him, punched and strangled her, forced her to shave her head, cut up her bank card and damaged her art work.

Vincent Blake-Barnard, prosecuting, said Beebe accused his partner of cheating and when she became pregnant in the summer of 2021 the defendant did not believe it was his child and a ‘cycle of violence’ unfolded.

Mr Blake-Barnard added the complainant described being subjected to blows to her back and temple and he ripped up her clothes, cut up her bank card and controlled how she spent her money.

He said: “The defendant said if she shaved her head he would forgive her anything and she felt she had no other choice to avoid arguments.”

Beebe ripped up his partner’s artwork and soaked it in the bath on September 11, 2022, according to Mr Blake-Barnard, before he held her head over the bath and repeatedly punched her while she thought she would be drowned.

The following day, on September 12, 2022, Beebe refused to let the complainant go shopping and told her she needed to clean up, before he attacked her again.

Mr Blake-Barnard said: “He walked over and grabbed her with his left hand around her neck and pushed her to the floor and squeezed her neck and she feared she was going to die until he let go.”

Beebe continued to assault the complainant before grabbing her around the neck again causing bruising, according to Mr Blake-Barnard.

Mr Blake-Barnard said that on September 13, 2022, Beebe climbed on the complainant and punched her to the back of her ribs and grabbed her and pushed her onto a sofa and punched her to the back.

The complainant who has suffered night terrors stated she feels she has had to leave Sheffield for her safety.

She added: “I am living in constant fear that if Nathan is released he will hunt me down and kill me.”

Beebe, who has previous convictions, pleaded guilty to controlling and coercive behaviour, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, intentional strangulation and causing damage.

Laura Marshall, defending, said Beebe, who has been in and out of care, accepts he has anger management issues.

She added: “He wants to say to the complainant that he is sorry. He knows that does not mean much and he knows he cannot take back what he put her through.”

Judge Peter Kelson KC said Beebe’s criminal behaviour spanned from August, 2021, to December, 2022, during which time he ‘violently and grotesquely demeaned’ the complainant.

He told Beebe: “She had the courage and strength to get out from under your control to get to the police and to see the case right the way through.”

Judge Kelson, who stressed Beebe’s offending had involved persistent violence, told the defendant: “You have got to change. Your behaviour towards her was simply abominable.”

He sentenced Beebe to two years of custody in a Young Offender Institution and made him subject to an indefinite restraining order.