Man strangled girlfriend and headbutted her housemate after he 'flipped his head'

A bad-tempered bully who was "steeped in booze" viciously strangled his girlfriend and another man, causing them both to struggle to breathe, after a night out suddenly went badly wrong.

Brandon Sconis "flipped his head" and turned nasty after they all returned home from a heavy drinking session. He first attacked his girlfriend but he later headbutted her housemate during an aggressive series of angry outbursts of violence, Hull Crown Court heard.

Sconis, 26, of Crane Road, Kingswood, Hull, admitted two offences of intentional strangulation – one for each victim – and two offences of assault on August 3.

Curtis Dunkley, prosecuting, said that the two victims were the girlfriend of Sconis and her housemate, who had been a previous boyfriend of hers.

On August 2, Sconis and the woman had been out drinking together but he was ejected from the premises because of him banging a table. They walked back to their shared home.

On their way there, they encountered the woman's housemate, who was walking back home to the house in Sykes Street, off Freetown Way, at 3.45am after a night out drinking. They arrived at 5am and they went to their respective rooms.

The woman was heavily drunk and Sconis tried to put her in the recovery position because of the state that she was in. Sconis later tried to stop her going to the bathroom and he grabbed hold of her wrist, arm and hips, causing bruises.

"She screamed for help and the defendant grabbed hold of her throat with both hands and applied pressure, restricting her breathing for about 30 seconds," said Mr Dunkley.

The woman went into her housemate's bedroom and screamed for help. "The defendant attended and grabbed hold of her from behind before putting her down on the bed," said Mr Dunkley.

Keep up to date with all the latest crime and court news from Hull with our free newsletter

"He grabbed hold of her and threw her into drawers in the bedroom, causing her to bang her head and suffer bruising." The housemate told Sconis to get off her but Sconis told him: "What the f*** are you gonna do?"

Sconis put his hand around the head of the man, who tried to run away from the bedroom. Sconis punched him several times to the head, forcing him back into his own bedroom, and he headbutted him, causing bleeding from a tooth and his lip.

Inside the man's room, Sconis grabbed hold of his neck, with his arms in a chokehold position, and restricted his breathing, causing his face to turn red. He then left the man's room.

The girlfriend could not find her mobile phone and called 999 using a phone belonging to Sconis outside the property. "The defendant came outside and asked who she was talking to before returning inside, where he got changed and returned outside," said Mr Dunkley.

"He returned to the flat and collected his belongings before leaving the property." On his way out of the property, he slapped the housemate in the face twice and said: "This is what you wanted."

The girlfriend was lying on her side on the ground and Sconis grabbed hold of her hair and began pulling at it. Police arrived and Sconis told her that she would "regret this". He was standing over her when he was arrested.

The woman went to Hull Royal Infirmary and she was discharged with no follow-up treatment. She later said that the situation had made her pre-existing depression worse. She was worried that Sconis would attack her or her housemate again and that he would break into her flat to attack her.

The man suffered bleeding to his lip and a tooth from the headbutt. "He struggled breathing and was concerned about what may happen when he was being strangled," said Mr Dunkley.

During police interview, Sconis admitted that he "just flipped his head" after the housemate got involved and then started "kicking off". Sconis had drunk a lot of alcohol and this made him "more irrational".

Alcohol made him do things which he would not normally do. He admitted that the housemate was "not a bad kid".

Benjamin Donnell, mitigating, said that it was "concerning behaviour" by Sconis but it was not typical of him. He had no previous convictions. "He is very remorseful for what he did," said Mr Donnell. "He is ashamed. He has little recollection of what happened, no doubt due to the amount of alcohol that he had drunk.

"He was of assistance to the police on arrest. He made admissions when he was being transported to police custody. He has never sought to minimise what he has done. He has shocked himself at his own conduct."

Recorder Sam Green KC said: "You don't go around strangling people without being punished. He did something disgraceful and completely unacceptable." Recorder Green told Sconis: "You were steeped in booze."

Unemployed Sconis was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence, 300 hours' unpaid work, 20 days' rehabilitation, a four-month monitoring order and a probation service Building Better Relationships programme. He was given an indefinite restraining order.