Christchurch man Harrison Evans given 12-month community order after admiting he punched girlfriend
A WOMAN told how she had started self-harming daily with a razor blade after she was attacked by her boyfriend.
In a victim impact statement read out at Bournemouth Crown Court she told how she hurt herself “to cope with the anxiety” the assault had caused her.
She also said she had been forced to move out of the Christchurch area to avoid Harrison Evans (28) who had attacked her.
The woman, who sobbed in the public gallery and hid under a coat as the defendant walked to the dock, revealed: “I have suffered greatly in day-to-day life. I am scared that he will look to find me and cause me further problems.
“If I go to the shops, I look behind me to see if he is there.”
Prosecutor Mark Karpinski told how Evans, of Masterton Close, Christchurch, had punched her after the couple had an argument.
He said: “The couple had a short-lived relationship. They got into a row and he said she was being aggressive and became physical first.
“She dragged him off the bed and slapped him and hit him around the head. He said he “essentially lost it” and punched her.”
Evans, who pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, has a previous conviction for assaulting an emergency worker.
Mr Karpinski said that on 1st December 2022 Evans spat at a police officer who had been called to his address because he was threatening paramedics.
In defence, Ruba Huleihel said the defendant was autistic and “struggles with his mental health”.
The court heard he had been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, complex PTSD, ADHD and a personality disorder.
She said: “He had a very difficult and volatile childhood and witnessed domestic abuse as a child.”
The relationship with the victim was “volatile and toxic” and the defendant, she added, “lacked the coping mechanisms” to deal with it.
She said the victim already struggled with her mental health and was self-harming previous to the assault.
Sentencing Evans to a 12-month community order, Judge Hill told him: “You tried to start a relationship which became violent and you lashed out once causing bruising.
“It is not the first time you have been in trouble. It seem as if your temper got the better of you.
“You can’t go on like that.”
He said he was prepared to give Evans, who was also given 15 days’ rehab activity, “another chance” but warned him that he was “close to not getting another one”.