A TEENAGE victim was prevented from leaving, headbutted and punched.

At one stage she managed to ring her mother on her mobile phone and shout out to her where she was.

The mum went to the quarry to try to find her daughter, Mold Crown Court was told.
James Andrew Lawrence, of Trevalyn Hall View, Rossett, admitted assaulting the girl causing her actual bodily harm at Marford Quarry in Pant Lane, Marford, on August 22.

Lawrence received a 36 week prison sentence, suspended for a year. He was ordered to carry out 150 hours unpaid work and was sent on a domestic violence course. He was also told to pay his victim £750 in compensation.

Judge Niclas Parry told him: “This was a prolonged incident of controlling behaviour. It was nothing short of that. She would have been very frightened.”

The headbutt was particularly serious and was akin to use of a weapon.

But he was only 19 and had no previous convictions for violence. It was not pre-meditated but was something that had grown in the emotion of the occasion.

The judge said he accepted his remorse was genuine, he had good references and was about to start a job.

The court heard the victim had agreed to meet Lawrence and until midnight everything was fine but his attitude changed when she refused to enter a relationship with him.

Prosecutor Emmalyne Downing said he prevented her from leaving.

He held her tightly and said she could go with him the easy way or the hard way.

Lawrence held her by the neck at one stage and on another occasion gripped her around the shoulders.

At one stage she was able to shout down her mobile phone to tell her mother where she was. She was hanging on to a bench to prevent him dragging her away.

The victim told police later that each time she said something he would hit her with a stick. That happened five times when he struck her to the face.

She eventually said she would go with him but during an argument he told her to shut up and headbutted her.

It knocked her teeth out and he picked her up saying: “I should not have done that.”

She continued to walk with him because she felt she had no choice but it scared her when he spoke of “dying together”.

The victim managed to make it back to the quarry exit where her mother’s car was parked and she ran towards it.

She had a head injury, bruising to the jaw and her teeth were damaged which resulted in ongoing dentistry.

Interviewed, he claimed she hit him so he hit her back.

He agreed he had stopped her leaving and when he had his arm around her neck he claimed it was a type of cuddle.

Paul Smith, defending, said it was a serious, out of character, one-off incident.