Sunderland thug hit five-year-old while aiming violent attack at girlfriend in her home

A raging brute who accidentally assaulted his girlfriend's five-year-old child while he was in the midst of attacking her has been locked up.

Kyle Jones, 31, had only been in a relationship with his victim for four months when he knocked her unconscious and left her with two black eyes in the first of two violent onslaughts.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how the woman's daughter and Jones' son had been upstairs at her property when they got into an argument over his child in the early hours of June 1, 2018.

Paul Rooney, prosecuting, told the court how "for no apparent reason" Jones became "highly upset" and started shouting at her.

He then punched her up to three times in the face, knocking her onto the floor and unconscious, where she lay in a fetal position.

The thug, who was foaming at the mouth following the attack was only prevented from kicking the victim while she was in her helpless state because her friend grabbed him.

The court was told how the victim was too scared to report the violence to the police until January 2019, seven months later.

Despite knowing he was being investigated over the attack Jones, of Rosewood Square, in Grindon, Sunderland, launched a second bout of violence on the victim and her young daughter in May.

Mr Rooney told the court how Jones had been at the woman's address when he blamed her for posts his ex-girlfriend had left on Facebook.

She was so scared she decided to sleep in her child's bed that night, while he remained in another room, but she was awoken in the early hours of the morning to him calling her an offensive name, and demanding that she put her password into her phone.

It was while the victim was trying to comfort her crying daughter that Jones attacked the woman, punching her in the head, and accidentally hitting the child in the ear.

Around a month before he was due to stand trial Jones pleaded guilty to ABH, two counts of common assault and witness intimidation.

The court was told how Jones had tried to pressure his victim into dropping the charges against him.

Mr Rooney said: "Jones went to the victim's address and told her that she better phone the police and drop the charges and if she did not there would be consequences.

"She phoned the police and told them she wished to drop the the charges. Jones stood over her making sure she spoke to the police."