A father who admitted strangling two people after drinking a bottle of vodka has been given a final chance to get on the straight and narrow.
At a sentencing hearing yesterday, Tuesday, September 17, the court heard how 27-year-old Thomas Griffiths had been at a friend’s house drinking and playing video games on July 10 this year.
With Griffiths in the Ammanford property was his then girlfriend of five years and the friend whose home it was.
The court heard that in the early hours of the morning Griffiths, of Maesybont in Glanaman, became violent towards his friend.
Father of two, Griffiths, shouted and swore at his friend before getting him in a choke hold and wrapping his legs around him. He choked his friend for around one minute, causing him to almost lose consciousness.
When his girlfriend intervened, Griffiths attacked her, grabbing her by the throat so that she was struggling to breathe and shouting ‘is this what you want?’.
The court heard that Griffiths had an ‘unenviable antecedent history’ including eight previous convictions for offences including drugs, dishonesty, driving and breaching orders. However there were no previous convictions for violence of this kind.
Defence barrister Scott Bowen told the court that this was ‘entirely out of character’ for Griffiths and that he had never been physically violent towards his girlfriend before this.
He said that Griffiths has resorted to alcohol as a way of dealing with difficult circumstances and emotional turbulence, and that the use of alcohol and drugs in this way was an entrenched pattern going back to his youth.
He added that Griffiths was ‘appalled by his actions that night’.
Judge Geraint Walters warned Griffiths that this was his last chance, before handing down two concurrent 12-month prison sentences, suspended for a year.
He also ordered him to complete a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement, a 12 month alcohol treatment requirement and 120 hours of unpaid work.
“Your luck is about to run out,” he told Griffiths. "If you do not sort yourself out now and if you come back before me, I will have no hesitation in exposing you for the first time in your life to an immediate prison sentence.
“If you value the prospect of keeping contact with your children, it’s time to set them an example. It’s up to you.”
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