Soldier denies hitting estranged wife with belt buckle (From Dorset Echo)

Soldier denies hitting estranged wife with belt buckle

1:30pm Friday 4th January 2013 in News

A SOLDIER has denied hitting his estranged wife with a belt buckle and grabbing her by the throat, a court was told.

In the second day of a trial at Dorchester Crown Court, John Andrew Davies gave evidence that he ‘would never in this world dream of hurting a woman’.

Davies, 29, of Styles Lane, Puddletown, faces one charge of common assault and one of assault occasioning actual bodily harm against his wife, Emma Davies.

The couple are now separated.

The trained infantry soldier, who now works for the Military Provost Guard Service, said: “It is a job where you have to be aggressive, but I also have discipline, and I would never do that.”

He told the jury that in the first of two altercations which took place in April 2011, he had been trying to stop Mrs Davies from entering a room to keep her away from his partner when she slipped and fell down the stairs.

Mrs Davies gave evidence on Wednesday that her husband had pushed her. In a separate incident which took place at the marital home on the Kingston Maurward estate, the defendant said he had visited the property to pick up clothing.

He said his wife had been ‘hysterical’ when she found out his partner was pregnant and that he did not know how she had got the injuries, including a bruise to her ankle, scratches to her neck and face and a bruise on her inner thigh.

In a statement read to the court as part of the prosecution case Dr Basil Purdue said the scratches were likely to have been caused by something pointed, but not a cutting edge.

Referring to the bruise on Mrs Davies’ thigh he said: “This might perhaps be in keeping with an impact against a belt buckle.”

Today the jury is expected to retire to consider its verdict.