A man who strangled his girlfriend and her helpless pet Chihuahua in a drug-fuelled rage at a party has been jailed.
Samuel Bodington lost his temper and began hallucinating and becoming violent, lashing out at his girlfriend and the helpless dog she was looking after.
Bodinton had arrived at a party at his girlfriend’s home high on the prescription drug Pregabalin which he had obtained on the street.
While at the party where everyone had been drinking, the 33-year-old grabbed and squeezed his girlfriend’s neck causing her to gasp for air before turning on her Chihuahua, Luna.
He held on to the dog’s neck, causing its tongue to hang out of its mouth and leaving the dog, who had been mistreated by its former owners, ‘shaken and jumpy’, Hull Crown Court heard.
Samuel Bodington, 33, outside Hull Crown Court after being sentenced for strangling his ‘terrified girlfriend’ and Chihuahua Luna she had been looking after
Hull Crown Court heard that Bodington had been high on the prescription drug Pregabalin when he strangled his girlfriend of 16 years in an ‘unprovoked’ attack
Michael Forrest, prosecuting said: ‘The defendant’s behaviour changed like a switch had been flipped,’ said Mr Forrest.
Fuelled by the prescription drug Pregabalin, which is used to treat epilepsy and anxiety and makes the user very relaxed, Bodington became agitated.
He was hallucinating, being loud and aggressive, and hurling insults causing the woman to become scared.
‘She told him to leave but he didn’t leave.’ he added.
Bodington began calling her names before launching himself at his girlfriend who was lying on a sofa and dragging her both to the floor.
While they were on the floor, he took hold of her throat and the neck of the dog and squeezed.
The woman eventually forced Bodington to release his grip and alerted the police.
‘Luna was very shaken and jumpy,’ said Mr Forrest.
The woman, who had been in a relationship with Boddington for 16 years, later said that Bodington’s attack on her was unprovoked.
Bodington admitted breaching a 16-month suspended prison sentence imposed on July 31 last year after he admitted the intentional strangulation of his girlfriend and causing unnecessary suffering to her pet dog.
At the time of the case originally being heard in July last year, Bodington had been in custody on remand at Doncaster Prison since the April of that year.
He had been given a 16-month suspended prison sentence, 30 days’ rehabilitation and a six-month alcohol treatment programme. He had been banned from keeping animals for two years.
Judge John Thackray KC told him at the time: ‘Your behaviour on the evening in question was appalling. Your victim must have been terrified. The dog must have been terrified.
‘This could have been so much more serious. Sometimes it only takes a few seconds from when someone is strangled to them losing consciousness.’
The case resurfaced when Bodington admitted failing to comply with the terms of the suspended sentence by missing appointments with the probation service on November 23 last year and January 18 this year.
Connor Stuart, prosecuting for the probation service, told the latest hearing that, at an earlier hearing on September 20, the order was allowed to continue and Bodington was fined for not previously attending.
The case had also been adjourned on February 14 for Bodington to prove that he could comply with the order but his attendance for probation service sessions had been ‘sporadic’ and he blamed a lot of it on cannabis use, said Mr Stuart.
Bodington told the court: ‘My life a year ago was absolutely brilliant.’
But he later split up with his girlfriend, whom he had been with since the age of 18, and he lost his home forcing him to rely on friends to put him up.
‘Everything has been sporadic, just up in the air, out of control,’ he said.
‘I don’t have any excuses.’
Recorder Tony Watkin said that the original suspended sentence could have been activated ‘straight away’ at previous hearings because of Bodington’s non-compliance but he had been given opportunities to comply.
‘When the court imposes a sentence, it expects there to be compliance,’ said Recorder Watkin.
The probation service had not ‘immediately jumped’ to taking enforcement action but Bodington had now forced their hand.
‘I can’t, in all conscience, do anything other than activate the suspended sentence,’ said Recorder Watkin.
‘You did four months and a bit on remand. The decision I have to reach, unfortunately for you but doing my duty, is that I am going to have to activate that sentence.
‘You will serve the remainder of that sentence. It seems as though there is four months left. I can’t see any real grounds to remit any part of that.’
The 16-month suspended sentence was activated and Bodington was jailed for the remainder of the original 16 months left to serve.