17 January 2024 , 18:12
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A man slapped and threatened his seven-months-pregnant partner in their bedroom while she was suffering painful Braxton Hicks contractions, a court heard.
Kane Passam asked his victim “are you going to be like this when you’re in labour?” before threatening to take the baby from her when he was born because she was “unstable”, Nottingham Crown Court was told.
In response she told him she would not include his name on the birth certificate. Passam shoved her and then slapped her in the face before immediately saying “s*** I should not have done that” and then blaming her for what he did. After the baby boy was born and the couple had separated, he harassed her with unwanted and sometimes aggressive messages.
Handing the 26-year-old from Nottingham a 12-month conditional discharge, Judge Stuart Rafferty said: “I am not going to send you to custody primarily because of the delay and that she is now encouraging you to see your child and does not want protection from you (via a restraining order).
“But you have not covered yourself in any glory and if you are stupid enough to breach this (conditional discharge) you will come back before me and you better bring a bag because you will be going down the stairs (into custody). This is your very, very, very, last chance, it is only circumstance that has saved you this time. There’s no point being a bigger child than your own child, you can go, do not come back.”
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Katrina Wilson, prosecuting, said Passam and the victim first knew each other in 2019 and began a relationship which she described as “toxic at times”. She said the assault took place in February 2022 when the woman was seven months pregnant with their child.
The prosecutor said: “She was in the bedroom having Braxton Hicks contractions (sometimes referred to as false labour pains) and he was downstairs playing on his Xbox. He came into the bedroom and she was leaning over a cot and he told her to sit down but she said she did not as she was in too much pain. He pulled her, she was crying, and he asked if she was going to be like this when she was in labour, saying she was unstable and that he would take the baby from her when it was born.
“In response she told him she would leave his name off the birth certificate so he slapped her to the face with a strike of such force that she said she could not see for 10 seconds and she fell onto the bed. He then said ‘s*** I should not have done that’ and then told her it was her fault for saying she would leave his name off the birth certificate.”
Miss Wilson said after the couple separated following the birth of their son there were then a number of issues between them, mainly related to child contact and that he sent her numerous unwanted messages, reported Nottinghamshire Live.
Passam pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and harassment. He has a previous conviction for robbery for which the same judge handed him a suspended sentence in July 2022.
Katie Hodgkinson, mitigating, said her client had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and had not committed any offence of any kind for almost two years. She said: “His behaviour has improved distinctly. When I went to speak to him he told me ‘I can’t behave like this, it is not good for the victim and it is not good for our son’.”