A NEWPORT man burst into a party with a knife while on drugs to threaten his ex-partner and then later attacked her.

Louis Bin-Salih appeared at Cardiff Crown Court after he admitting harassing his former partner for more than a month over the turn of this year.

The court heard how the pair had been in a relationship between June of 2020 and January 2021.

Last Christmas Eve at around 1am, the defendant turned up uninvited to a party in the Pill area that the complainant was at. The court later heard he was under the influence of drugs at the time.

“He was aggressive towards the complainant,” said William Bebb, prosecuting. The complainant then left for another party.

“The defendant entered carrying a knife,” said Mr Bebb. “He was shouting: ‘Do you think I’m stupid? I’m going to kill you’.

“She ran outside. The defendant punched her in the face and she fell to the floor,” where Bin-Salih kicked her.

The court heard that the victim suffered “large swelling and bruising of tissue around the left eye” which had swollen shut, she had blurred vision, and “fractures of the wall of the left orbit”.

Bin-Salih, of Stow Hill, was arrested and released on bail – on the condition of not contacting the complainant.

But, at around 11.50pm on January 26, 2022, the complainant answered the door to collect a takeaway pizza. She saw Bin-Salih outside.

“The defendant made his way from the side of the house forcing the complainant to shut the door in his face,” said Mr Bebb.

“I can only infer from the timing that he was lying in wait for her,” said Judge Catherine Richards.

The following day, she started receiving Facebook messages from an account named Rick Dagg – which had been set up by Bin-Salih.

The account sent “a string of unanswered messages” from January 27 to February 8.

One of the messages, sent on February 7, read: “Do you want to die? Is that what you getting at?(sic) I’ll snap and murder you. It’s not a joke.”

The following day, at around 6.20pm, the complainant was taking her bins out.

“She noticed the defendant outside her house and he ran towards her.”

Bin-Salih, aged 27, has seven convictions for 12 offences, and was subject to a suspended sentence order for a conviction of ABH at the time of these offences.

“All breaking restraining orders or violence, and almost all relating to women,” Judge Richards said.

Gareth Williams, mitigating, said that Bin-Salih was “in some way trying to address his issues” with his mental health and substance misuse.

“There are times where he is capable of being a nice person. He does some work for charity.”

In response to Bin-Salih appearing outside the complainant’s house, Mr Williams said this may have been due to them living in the same local area.

“The Facebook messages were clearly him,” he added.

Sentencing Bin-Salih, Judge Richards said: “It’s clear that you have a great deal of work to do on yourself before you subject another person to being in a relationship with you.”

He was jailed for two years and three months for stalking - with fear of violence, and a further five months for breaching a suspended sentence order.

He was made the subject of a restraining order for 10 years.

No separate penalty was given for a charge of possessing cannabis – which Bin-Salih had admitted.