A MAN assaulted his partner on two separate occasions after he had been drinking.

Blackburn magistrates heard the first time Artur Karolczuk gave the victim a black eye but she didn’t report the matter because she was embarrassed.

The second time Karolczuk, punched her repeatedly, throttled her to the point she thought her life was going to end and then deliberately shook a bottle of aftershave in her face, trying to get it to go in her eyes.

She eventually went to the police but when the matter came to court a letter from her said they had resolved their difficulties and wished to remain together.

“At the time of the incidents he was under the influence of alcohol and didn’t understand his actions,” the letter said.

Karolczuk, 53, of Hamilton Street, Blackburn, admitted two charges of assault and one of criminal damage to a mobile phone. He was made subject to a community order for 12 months with 30 days' rehabilitation activity requirement focussing on alcohol, abuse and safer relationships, and 80 hours' unpaid work.

Peter Bardsley, prosecuting, said the couple had moved to the UK in March and settled in Blackburn.

On August 20 she was at home asleep when the defendant, who had been drinking, woke her and said he wanted his lighter.

Mr Bardsley added: “When she said she didn’t have it he called her a thief and punched her in the eye. She said she didn’t report the incident to the police because she was embarrassed.”

On October 3 he had again been drinking heavily when he became verbally abusive before throwing her clothes out of the wardrobe and scattering them on the floor.

“He called her a whore and then grabbed her phone and threw it against the fridge,” said Mr Bardsley.

“He then grabbed her and forced her to the floor where he put his hand around her throat and started striking her. She feared it was the end of her life.”

When the victim eventually managed to get away she asked for her phone and he threw it at her.

The incident with the aftershave was then followed by him grabbing her hair and banging her head against the wall and then punching her several times in the back of the head.

Karolczuck, speaking through an interpreter, said he regretted what had happened.

He said the day before the October incident a family member had been buried and that had sparked his drinking.