Man accused of strangling his girlfriend and beating her with a mobile phone
A man allegedly strangled and beat his girlfriend with her mobile phone in a Belfast hotel room, a court heard today.
Mark Adamson, 34, is also accused of subjecting the woman to separate attacks which involved imprisoning and striking her with a remote control.
The woman was treated in hospital earlier this week for injuries which included bruising to her neck and a chipped tooth, a judge was told.
Adamson appeared at Belfast Magistrates’ Court charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent, non-fatal strangulation, false imprisonment, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, criminal damage and domestic abuse offences in connection with three separate incidents.
The defendant, with an address at Whitewell Road in Newtownabbey, denies the allegations which his lawyer branded “lies”.
In a 999 call on Tuesday the woman claimed Adamson had attacked her after they booked into the ETAP hotel in the city centre. She told police he followed her back to the room after an argument, took her phone off her and used it to hit her on the head.
It was also alleged that on an unspecified date in June Adamson caused an injury to the woman’s eye by hitting her with a remote control while she was at his home.
“He wouldn’t let her out and sat by the door,” the detective claimed. “The following day he became aggressive, drinking and spitting on her.”
During a third incident sometime between July 23 and 25 Adamson allegedly pushed her onto a bed frame at accommodation in Cookstown. “She ended up on the ground and he kicked her on the back,” the detective added.
Sean O’Hare, defending, argued that the accused spent seven hours in a police station waiting to be questioned and to assist the investigation into what the barrister described as “nebulous allegations”. “From his account she has told lies about him,” Mr O’Hare insisted.
Adamson was refused bail, however, and remanded in custody until August 30.