A convicted domestic abuser beat his pregnant partner with a hairbrush – and had to be scared away by the woman’s hockey stick-wielding stepdad.

Mitchell Lewis pushed the woman to the floor in another assault and also stamped on her Macbook and iPhone after suspecting she had been unfaithful.

Jailing smirking Lewis for a year at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday, Judge Ian Pringle QC said: “You’re 33 years of age and it’s really time that you understand that if you behave in this way you will be punished.

“Domestic violence is one of the most hideous forms of violence because it occurs just between two people, often without any witnesses and the perpetrators of it so often get away [with it].”

Bethan Chichester, mitigating, said Lewis was sorry for what he’d done and accepted he’d reacted badly. He had had a difficult upbringing and suffered domestic abuse himself. Upon his release from custody he had resolved to move in with a cousin in Warwickshire.

Earlier, the court heard how Lewis and his victim formed a relationship earlier this year.

He knew she was pregnant when, on September 25, they were arguing in the car on the way to get some food.

Prosecutor Alice Aubrey-Fletcher said the woman got out of the car as it crawled towards some traffic lights and began walking home.

Lewis started to drive after her at a snail’s pace. He stopped, got out the driver’s seat and hit her across the face with a ‘paddle’ hairbrush, leaving her with a split lip and broken tooth.

The woman called her mother, who with her partner found Lewis following her daughter along Margaret Road, Headington.

“[The stepfather] got out of his car with a hockey stick to scare Mr Lewis away while [the victim’s mother] ushered her daughter into the car,” Ms Aubrey-Fletcher said.

In ‘August or September’, the defendant had pushed his partner to the ground while they were out for a walk in Barton. He slapped her to the face but caused no injury.

At around the same time he had stamped on her Macbook laptop and iPhone during an argument. He had paid for repairs to the iPhone but was arrested before he could pay to repair the damaged computer.

The court heard he had seven convictions, including for offences against two former partners. At the time of the assaults he was subject to a court order imposed for stalking an ex.

Ms Aubrey-Fletcher said his latest partner did not want a restraining order imposed on Lewis.

Lewis, of Burchester Avenue, Oxford, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to causing actual bodily harm, common assault and criminal damage.

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