Woman jailed for beating partner while he sat on toilet

A WOMAN who launched a violent attack on her partner as he sat on the toilet has been jailed for a year.

Rochelle Rutherford repeatedly punched her long-suffering victim at his Jarrow home, leaving him battered and bleeding.

The attack then continued into the living room, where the 56-year-old was repeatedly kicked in the head.

Newcastle Crown Court heard trouble flared during a drinking session in December after Rutherford, 46, who served a prison sentence for an attack on the same man last summer, accused him of making abusive remarks about her family.

Prosecutor Neil Pallister told the court: “He went to the lavatory. The defendant followed him there and accused him of calling her family.

“She entered the lavatory, where he was actually sitting, and she punched him to the head on three or four occasions. He felt pain to his face and noticed he was bleeding.”

The court heard Rutherford, of no fixed address, continued the attack when the man entered the living room with blood pouring from his nose.

Mr Pallister said: “The defendant grabbed him by the hair and threw him onto a mattress on the floor.

“She began to punch him in the face, two or three times, and this caused his right eye to swell and obstruct his vision.  

The defendant began to kick him to the head and body two to three times.”

The man, who is a “high risk” domestic violence victim, said he fears if Rutherford’s behaviour towards him continues, he will end up dead.

He has now ended the three-year relationship, and told police: “She seems to get a kick out of hitting me. I’m not a punchbag for anyone.

“I don’t think she knows how much she hurts me. One day I feel, if she continues, I will end up dead.”

Mr Recorder Keith Miller made a restraining order to keep Rutherford, who pleaded guilty to assault, away from her victim for two years, and said the jail sentence was inevitable.

The judge said: “Any court dealing with a man in your position, who had abused, humiliated and assaulted his female partner, would be expected to pass a sentence of imprisonment of significant length.

“I don’t see that because you are a woman, you should be treated differently.”

David Combe, defending, said Rutherford is now accepting help for her alcohol and other problems and realises the relationship, which she now accepts is over, was “destructive”.