Husband denies ‘grabbing wife by the throat’ (From Dorset Echo)

Husband denies ‘grabbing wife by the throat’

10:00am Thursday 3rd January 2013 in News

A WOMAN feared for her life when her husband grabbed her around the throat, a court was told.

John Andrew Davies, 29, of Styles Lane, Puddletown is standing trial at Dorchester Crown Court and faces one charge of common assault and one of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

In the first day of the case his wife Emma Davies, who is now separated from the defendant, told the jury that her husband had pushed her down two flights of stairs and on a separate occasion, grabbed her around the throat and hit her with a belt.

Prosecuting, Edward Elton said the marriage had had ‘ups and downs’.

He said: “There were times when he would be living with his parents while she was in the marital home, and other times when the position was reversed.”

Giving evidence from behind a screen Mrs Davies told the court that she had gone to her husband’s parents’ house in Puddletown in April 2011 to confront him when she became suspicious that he was seeing another woman.

Davies had pushed her, and she fell down the stairs, the court heard.

On a separate occasion several weeks later Mrs Davies said the defendant had turned up drunk at the marital home at Kingston Maurward.

The couple were in the bedroom when Davies became angry, the jury was told.

She said: “He pushed me in the chest repeatedly and I kept getting up. Then his hand moved up my body and his hands were round my throat.

“He had a blank look on his face and I thought he was going to do something horrible and I might not survive.”

Defending, Jamie Porter said Davies denied grabbing his wife by the throat or hitting her with a belt.

The trial continues.