Matthew Thomas Greaves was on a suspended prison sentence for assaulting an earlier girlfriend when he hit his latest victim on the back of the head, said Brooke Morrison, prosecuting.
Police found him on a river bank in York.
Ms Morrison said Greaves claimed he had intended to end his own life “but couldn’t do it”, she said at York Crown Court.
Defence solicitor advocate Kevin Blount said Greaves had been struggling with his mental health at the time of the incident on October 8 last year.
Since then, Greaves had seen his doctor, was now on prescribed medication and had been referred to the community mental health team.
Greaves, 27, of Pennyghent Avenue, Tang Hall, pleaded guilty to assault. The conviction breached the 10-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months imposed on December 7, 2022, for two offences of causing actual bodily harm and one of assault to an earlier girlfriend. He had also been ordered to pay £70 compensation for criminal damage.
Judge Simon Hickey said the injury to the latest girlfriend was reddening to the skin and would not normally justify a prison sentence. He therefore decided not to make him serve the 10-month prison sentence and fined him a total of £600 for the latest assault and breaching the suspended sentence order.
Mr Blount said Greaves worked as a sub-contracting plasterer.
Ms Morrison said Greaves and his latest girlfriend had been out in York drinking when they argued and Greaves hit her.
He went off on his own. After police found him and put him in a police van, they heard him telephoning his girlfriend and talking about the assault. So they arrested him for assault.
Mr Blount said the couple had been in a relationship for some months and for two weeks before the assault Greaves had been struggling with his mental health.
The relationship had ended the night that he had hit her on the back of the head.
A probation officer said as part of the suspended prison sentence order, Greaves had completed a course on how to conduct domestic relationships. He had also done more than the rehabilitative activity days set out in the order.
