A man beat his former partner with a walking stick and came at her with a screwdriver, a court heard.

Screwdriver-wielding Lester McCalla had to be held back by his housemates to prevent him from attacking the woman with the tool.

Oxford Crown Court heard that 44-year-old McCalla was briefly in a relationship with his victim. She ended it after ‘about a fortnight’ over concerns about his drug-taking.

They met at his home in Milton Road, Cowley, on April 6 to talk things through. However, an argument developed about, among other things, a jewellery box she accused him of stealing from her.

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Prosecutor Matt Ward said McCalla beat the woman with his aluminium walking stick, punched her and ‘lunged’ at her with a screwdriver. He briefly chased after her as she fled the house.

Police were called to the scene by the woman herself, who stopped outside the Christian Life Sciences centre in Cowley Road to call 999, and a neighbour in Morris Crescent who had seen a woman pass his house with blood on her face.

The officers visited the Milton Road house to find McCalla with blood on his hands. Swabs were taken, while a walking stick and screwdriver were recovered from the property.

Interviewed at the police station, he denied assaulting the woman. He was found guilty in his absence at the magistrates’ court in May to a single count of causing actual bodily harm.

He had 39 previous convictions for 66 offences, the majority of which were thefts and other acquisitive crimes.

Dana Bilan, mitigating, said McCalla’s record was linked to a long-standing drug problem. She asked the judge to give her client, who had relapsed following the breakdown of a relationship with the mother of his young daughter, a chance to address that drug problem in the community rather than prison.

McCalla had been deemed unsuitable for a gruelling scheme, organised between HMP Bullingdon, Oxford Crown Court and charity Turning Point, that sees offenders given a spot at a residential rehab as a direct alternative to custody.

However, Turning Point said he could be given a ‘drug rehabilitation requirement’ as part of a community order or suspended sentence, which would require him to attend regular appointments with the service.

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Judge Ian Pringle QC said: “I have come to the conclusion this may be the time in your life when you might actually want to do something about your drug addiction and I am told that you do,” he added.

McCalla received 10 months’ imprisonment suspended for a year-and-a-half. He must do 32 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward