A terrified and “defenceless” woman suffered very nasty bruises after a heavy-drinking bully knocked her to the floor, strangled her, repeatedly punched her and viciously hit her with a metal crutch “as hard as he could”.
Bad-tempered alcoholic Dennis Hawley became “extremely aggressive” when the woman “rebuffed him” during a drinking session at his home. He had been downing a bottle of vodka and six cans of lager a day at the time, Hull Crown Court heard.
Hawley, 46, formerly of Benedict Road, but recently of Ashby Road, west Hull, admitted offences of intentional strangulation and assaulting the woman, causing actual bodily harm, on November 12, 2023. He pleaded guilty on the day of a scheduled trial.
Samantha Laws, prosecuting, said that Hawley was with the woman, described as a friend of a friend, during a social gathering, involving drinking, at his home. He “tried to make a move on her” but she “rebuffed him” and she got up and moved to sit on a sofa.
Hawley’s mood “instantly changed” and he became “extremely aggressive” and, at first, verbally nasty. He later turned violent and knocked the woman to the floor, grabbed her by her throat and strangled her, causing her to struggle to breathe.
“He then started punching her repeatedly to her head and face,” said Miss Laws. During the assault, he suggested that the woman was going to die. Hawley grabbed a metal crutch that he was using at the time and he started to hit her with it repeatedly as hard as he could, hitting her arms, back and head.
She suffered very nasty bruises, including to her lower back and arm.
“After a time, she managed to get up from the floor and fled from the property,” said Miss Laws. “She managed to make it to her parents’ house and told members of the family what happened to her.
“It was a prolonged assault and there were serious injuries caused. The defendant was in drink at the time.”
The police were alerted and Hawley was later arrested. He told police that he was asking the woman to leave his home but she would not do so. He claimed that she was the one being abusive and that she used a knife to threaten him.
He claimed that he threw a phone at her and used his metal crutch to try to hit her and get her to leave. The woman later said that, during the attack, she felt “defenceless”. She held her hands out to protect herself but could not stop the blows.
She later had to rely on her family to help her with tasks. “My anxiety has got worse since the assault,” she said. “I haven’t socialised since the incident. I feel isolated. Every time there is a knock at the door, I panic.”
Hawley had convictions for six previous offences, most recently in December 2020, but none of a similar nature.
Rachel Scott, mitigating, said that the pictures of the injuries suffered by the woman showed nasty bruises. “They are possibly the worst bruising that I have seen,” said Miss Scott.
“There is nothing that can be said to mitigate the behaviour. This was a terrible offence. He has no offences of violence on his record. This is out of character behaviour for this man.” In a pre-sentence report, there was a “lack of acceptance of his behaviour” and the court heard that, during the reading of the prosecution case, Hawley was shaking his head while he was in the dock.
“He did accept that his behaviour was wholly unacceptable,” said Miss Scott. “He said that he was ashamed of his actions – and he should be.” The effect on the woman had been “terrible”.
Father-of-five Hawley turned to alcohol after the breakdown of a previous relationship. He had sometimes drunk at least a bottle of vodka and six cans of lager a day and he had a “very significant alcohol problem” at the time.
“He fell into a hole at that point and he has struggled with alcoholism ever since really,” said Miss Scott. Hawley suffered serious injuries after falling down some stairs in 2020 when he had been drinking, meaning that he needed emergency surgery and had to use crutches.
“He has addressed his drinking and he is now completely off alcohol,” said Miss Scott. “He has made significant steps to reduce his alcohol intake. He is drinking about a can a day but there are days when he doesn’t drink at all.”
Hawley, who had been on bail, was jailed for 18 months.