Thug strangled partner and fractured her eye socket in brutal Corby attack

A thug fractured his partner’s eye socket and told her she was ‘going to be a dead person’ in a vicious attack.

Artus Caunans, 34, strangled her and beat her black and blue at a house in Corby after a discussion about finances turned violent.

The incident left his victim needing metal plates inserted because one eye was so damaged that it was higher than the other.

On Tuesday (February 14) Caunans, formerly of Grantham Walk in Corby, was jailed for three years after admitting causing grievous bodily harm.

Northampton Crown Court heard he was arrested on July 26 when the victim was found with significant facial injuries and blood all over her face. When police arrived they discovered blood on a mop in the kitchen.

The victim – who had been in a relationship with him for seven months – described the pair having discussions about finances, which had been a ‘catalyst for anger’. Caunans, who communicated through a Latvian interpreter, had been drinking, the court heard.

Prosecuting, Matthew Rowcliffe said: “The defendant grabbed her from behind [with] both hands around her throat and began to strangle her.

“He started punching her in the face...her next clear memory is the arrival of the police.”

But she did remember one thing Caunans told her during the attack, which went on for some time.

Mr Rowcliffe added: "She remembers the defendant saying 'you are going to be a dead person'."

The court heard that during the stop-and-start attack Caunans went out a few times to buy more booze. When he returned the assault would continue.

The victim was taken to hospital with facial bruises and swelling, deviation to her nose and numbness to the right side of her face. She had suffered a fractured eye socket and fractured nasal bone. On July 30 she had surgery with metal plates being inserted into her face.

In a victim impact statement read out by Mr Rowcliffe, she said: "The assault has really affected my life. I think it will take a long time for me to recover. I do not think I will ever forget."

She added that the right side of her face was paralysed, that she will need plastic surgery and that she may need further surgery if headaches do not stop.

She said: "I am reminded of it every time I see my reflection."

The court heard she believed Caunans would have killed her had the attack not stopped and that the thug had been calling her from prison.

Mitigating, Paul Webb said Caunans was a hard-working painter and decorator and that the offence was out of character.

He said Caunans had little recollection of the incident, adding that he was a 'classic example' of someone whose behaviour is very different when they've been drinking.

He said: "He is appalled by his behaviour."

The court heard the offence carried a starting point of four years, which His Honour Judge David Herbert KC reduced to three years because of credit for his guilty plea.

He told Caunans: "When you are in drink you become a very different and violent person."

Caunans will serve up to half of his sentence in custody before being released on licence. He is banned from contacting his victim for 10 years.