AN ABUSIVE boyfriend who choked and punched his partner and assaulted her “vulnerable” 63-year-old mother, a court has been ordered to go on a building better relationships course.

Scott Bennett, 24, was high on amphetamine after he attacked the pair in separate incidents in Tredegar, Cardiff Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Jeffrey Jones said that, on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, the defendant struck his then-girlfriend to the face, legs, arms, torso and chest.

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He told Judge Nicola Jones: “It was in the double figures. He then squeezed her neck from behind with such force that she momentarily passed out.

“The victim said the defendant had a perception that she was being unfaithful to him.”

Mr Jones said the couple moved in with the woman’s mother later that month and, Thursday, January 24, the pair had an argument over which film they were going to watch.

The court heard how the mother became involved after Bennett became “animated” and started swearing.

The mother asked him to leave before she was attacked.

The prosecutor said: “She relies on a walking aid and he refused to go and said he would go in the morning.

“She decided to contact the police and he pushed her twice. She ended up on the floor on her knees.

“The girlfriend helped her mother and both were upset and in fear of the defendant.”

Mr Jones told the court how they shouted through a window for help from a neighbour.

He added: “He followed them into a bedroom and punched his partner in the face.

“He was pumped up, striking his bare chest and shouting, ‘Come on! Come and get me!’

“The defendant then started to harm himself with some scissors to his arm and ran away.”

Bennett pleaded guilty to three counts of common assault.

He had three previous convictions for three offences and a caution for battery on another partner in Blaenavon.

Rosamund Rutter, mitigating, said the relationship between her client and his girlfriend had been “toxic”.

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She told the court that “both parties were misusing illicit substances” and that his then partner “accepted she had been violent on occasion”.

Miss Rutter added that Bennett had suffered mental health problems and from “traumatic incidents” in his past.

Judge Jones said that although the defendant’s offences crossed the custody threshold, she could draw back from an immediate prison sentence.

She told Bennett she believed him to be “capable of rehabilitation”.

The defendant was jailed for seven months, suspended for 12 months.

He will have to attend 29 sessions of a building better relationships programme and a 10-day rehabilitation and activity requirement.

Bennett must also complete 80 hours of unpaid work in the community.

The unemployed defendant, who receives Employment and Support Allowance of £250 a fortnight and a Personal Independence Payment of £300 a month, will have to pay financial penalties.‎

He has to pay £1,000 prosecution costs, £100 in compensation to each victim and a £140 victim surcharge.

Bennett, of Beacons View, Talgarth, Brecon, was also made the subject of a two-year restraining order.