A TEENAGE bully controlled his girlfriend and would become violent if she didn’t watch him play video games.

Cole McKenzie, 19, appeared in Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday to be sentenced to a charge of controlling and coercive behaviour.

Prosecuting, Jo Maxwell appeared via video link, and told the court how McKenzie had entered into a relationship with his victim in January of 2022.

She described how ‘the relationship was good to begin with’ but that after three or four months together, McKenzie began to become violent when he lost his temper.

The 19-year-old was controlling of the victim, who lives in Warrington, insisting she tell him any time she went out, and threatening to become violent in front of her family if she didn’t go home when instructed by him.

He would also go on her phone whilst she slept, monitor her social media usage, and delete contacts or remove friends of people he did not approve of.

McKenzie, of Brown Street, Tyldesley, would also yell vile statements at her, such as saying he wishes she wasn’t born, wishes she died, and that she would never leave him.

Whilst the Tyldesley teenager had pled guilty solely to controlling and coercive behaviour on the day of his trial, three counts of battery he was charged with will lay on his file.

The first of these three occasions occurred on August 28, 2022. McKenzie was playing on a gaming console, with the victim sitting in a gaming chair nearby to him.

After an argument between the two, she tried to stand up from the chair to leave.

The defendant then proceeded to kick her leg, before punching the same point on her leg so she fell to the ground.

The next day, August 29, 2022, another incident occurred. Ms Maxwell described how he ‘lost his temper’. He threw something at her head, narrowly missing, before punching her to the eye.

The prosecutor then proceeded to tell the court about photos of the victim with a black eye, which had to be covered up with makeup for two weeks.

The Tyldlesley teenager then dragged the victim to the top of the stairs and tried to push her down, with her narrowly managing to grab onto the banister and plant herself to the floor.

The final incident referenced in court occurred on September 22, 2022, when he ‘against lost his temper’.

The victim was pinned to the bed, with the 19-year-old defendant punching her arms to keep here there.

The court was then told how the victim was scared of him and ‘felt like a punching bag’.

Defending McKenzie, Olivia Beasley told the court that the defendant ‘struggled with maturity’, and had been judged to be at a low risk of reoffending.

She did concede, when discussing the fact McKenzie was forced to drop out of college, that this was due in part to the fact he changed college to go to the same one as his victim.

Overseeing proceedings, Judge Charlotte Crangle told McKenzie ‘She felt scared of you, you would use physical violence towards her whenever you lost your temper.’

She went on to say: “You would throw her out late at night when she had nowhere to go.

“A girlfriend is not a possession.”

Judge Crangle sentenced the 19-year-old to 12 months, suspended for 18 months, and served a three-year restraining order preventing contact with the victim or her mother.