A MAN suffering from severe depression and other medical problems has admitted twice assaulting his ex-partner.

Appearing before Worcester magistrates, David Grant pleaded guilty to assaulting the woman on Thursday, August 1, and Saturday, August 30, and damaging property in her home earlier this month.

Adrian Jones, prosecuting, told the court the couple had split up after a 25-year relationship about four years ago but they had stayed in contact due to having an 18-year-old son. “The first assault took place in the defendant’s home when she was visiting,” he said.

“He became agitated and he hit her with a television remote control. He said it wasn’t deliberate but it did occur during a scuffle.”

He said the second assault, which also took place at Grant’s home, happened after the pair had an argument and she tried to leave. “She reached down to pick up her handbag to leave and he said, ‘You’re not leaving’. She said he hit her in her nose, causing her a nosebleed. “He accepts he hit her but he says it was with the palm of his hand.”

He said she went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea and when she came back they talked for a while before again getting into a fight.

“He’s then said to have hit her a number of times, causing the top of her head to bleed,” he said.

He added the woman had been poked in the eye at some point but was unsure how it happened. Grant also denied putting his hand around her throat.

Mr Jones said Grant had gone to her home on Sunday, October 6, while she was out to visit his son and when she returned she found damage to a door, wall picture frame, ornament and sideboard along with blood in the kitchen, which was found to be Grant’s.

Judith Kenney, defending, said Grant, of Westcroft Court, Droitwich, suffered from depression and epilepsy and had recently been diagnosed with hepatitis c and had suffered liver damage as a result of medication he had been taking.

“It would appear to be that he’s in a terrible state mentally,” she said. “He is trying to move on but they do have a son and that is the one factor that keeps them joined, albeit distantly.”

District judge Nigel Cadbury ordered a pre-sentence report and bailed Grant to return for sentencing on Monday, on the condition he does not contact his ex-partner or visit the street where she lives.