“Possessive and controlling” man jailed for over three years

Friday 20 December 2024

A “possessive and controlling” man who attacked his former partner, threatened to post nude pictures of her around the town centre, and threw bleach and sardines at her house has been jailed for three and a half years.

Addison Thomas Mazurke (30) admitted harassment and domestic abuse when he first appeared in the Royal Court.

He denied grave and criminal assault but was found guilty of the offence after a three-day trial in October.

Crown Advocate Luke Sette, prosecuting, said the couple had an on-off relationship and Mazurke was always fixated on the idea that she was cheating on her.

He snatched the woman’s mobile phone from her to check it while she was in the bath.

She climbed out to retrieve it and in the ensuing struggle he kicked her, leaving the imprint of one of his trainers in her back. She also sustained bruises on her arms, legs and breast.

Advocate Sette said Mazurke also broke a window at her home, banged on the front door and vandalised it by throwing bleach and sardines against it.

He also phoned her four times in the early hours on one occasion, shouted verbal abuse at her, threatened to post nude pictures of her around the town centre and made the threats to her grandparents.

And the crown advocate pointed out: “There is a domestic context in which the offending took place.”

He added that the woman suffered psychological after-effects.

“She takes sleeping pills and anti-anxiety tablets, and she is on edge,” he said.

Mazurke is already serving a four-year jail sentence, imposed in January, for grave and criminal assault and theft.

In September 2022, before the offences against the woman, he and another man attacked a man in King Street, stole his shoes and filmed him as he lay injured and defenceless on the ground.

Advocate Sette said Mazurke was “at high risk of reconviction” and added: “There is a lack of remorse. He believes his actions were justified.”

He recommended a year in prison for harassment, another year for domestic abuse and 18 months for grave and criminal assault, all to run consecutively – giving a total sentence of three and a half years.

Advocate Stephen Wauchope, defending, said of the assault: “We have to accept that this is one blow to the lady’s back. It was a moderate but non-permanent injury.”

And of the vandalism he said: “We are talking about immature behaviour.”

Mazurke also alleged that the victim had harassed and assaulted him, so Advocate Wauchope added: “This is a two-way street. He is both perpetrator and victim.”

The advocate said Mazurke deserved credit for admitting the harassment and domestic abuse prior to the trial for grave and criminal assault.

Commissioner Alan Binnington said Jurats were agreeing to the prosecution’s request for a sentence of three and a half years, telling Mazurke: “You have shown little remorse for the impact your behaviour has on others.”

Jurats Le Cornu and Le Heuzé were sitting.