Thug assaulted his partner in the street and said she ‘deserved it’

Daniel Vlonk, of Longshaw Street, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday, September 12 on a CVP link from custody.

The court heard that on the evening of May 31, Vlonk and his then partner were in Warrington when they decided to go for a meal together.

After a ‘nice start to the evening’, the pair went on to a bar where they met some of Vlonk’s friends.

The court heard that this is where the evening soured, as when his partner said something about an ex in passing Vlonk’s behaviour ‘immediately changed’.

Vlonk embarrassed his ex-partner by accusing her of ‘flashing’ at his friends and began arguing with her.

The 33-year-old continued to ‘goad’ the victim, to which she responded, ‘just stop f*****g’ going on about it’.

“The next thing she knew was that Mr Vlonk slapped her to the face,” said the prosecution.

“He slapped her with that much force that she fell to the floor.”

The court heard that when she eventually stood back up, he told her, ‘you shouldn’t have f*****g said that, you deserved a slap’.

‘If you hit me one more time, I’m calling the police’

The victim was said to be ‘shocked and scared’ after the assault but decided to continue back to Vlonk’s flat with him to collect her belongings.

There, at some point after midnight, the assault continued when the victim told Vlonk she was going to leave.

As she went to pack her bags, she was punched by Vlonk to her face and her lower thigh with so much force that she ‘spat out a tooth’.

“If you hit me one more time, I’m going to call the police,” the victim told him.

Stood with her mobile phone in her hand, the victim suddenly had the device grabbed out of her hand and thrown out of the window, causing it to break.

Attempting to leave again, the court heard that the victim was approached by Vlonk who said, ‘please speak to me’.

Daniel Vlonk (Image: Facebook)

As the pair continued to talk about the incident, the victim sat on the sofa and the 33-year-old, who was stood, strangled her with so much force that she couldn’t remember if she passed out.

The court heard that the victim kicked out at him to try and get him to stop. The next thing she can remember is that she was on the end of the sofa, while he stood looking away from her.

It was also heard that Vlonk attempted to self-harm himself, and when the victim tried to get him to stop that he accidently cut her hand with the knife.

The victim then left to go to hospital, pretending she would be back, but never returned and left her belongings. She never returned the flat.

On the 7th of June, Vlonk was arrested by police, who found in him possession of a small amount of cocaine and cannabis. He was questioned about the assault but answered with no comment.

‘I think he’s seen the vulnerable side of me and preyed upon it’

An impact statement read out to the court revealed that the victim finds it hard to trust people.

“Since this incident, I haven’t been going out as frequently as I used to,” the statement read.

“I think I he’s seen the vulnerable side of me and preyed upon it.”

“She feels she couldn’t be in another relationship as she couldn’t trust another partner,” the prosecution added.

During mitigation, the defence told the court that the 33-year-old had been abused as a child, has bipolar disorder and a history of self-harm.

During sentencing, Judge Andrew Menary spoke of Vlonk’s ‘offensive and nasty’ behaviour towards the victim at the pub.

“When she told you effectively to shut up because she had enough, you then slapped her to the face,” he said.

He then noted that being strangled by Vlonk must have been ‘utterly terrifying’ for the victim.

“I don’t underestimate the difficulties you have had, but as I said you also need to take responsibility for your own behaviour,” said Judge Menary.

Vlonk was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court

The court heard that Vlonk has 11 previous convictions, including offending against a former partner and breaching a non-molestation order put in place to protect her.

Last month, the Warrington Guardian reported that Vlonk had appeared in court for drug driving offences, which occurred only one day after the assault on his former partner.

Already serving an eight-week sentence, Vlonk will now also serve three years in prison for strangling his former partner.

On top of that, he will serve a concurrent 18-month sentence for assault occasioning bodily harm and a consecutive sentence of four months for assault. In total, he was sentenced to 40 months imprisonment.

He faced no further penalty for criminal damage or for possessing cocaine and cannabis.

‘I wish I got a Clare’s Law check’

Speaking to the Warrington Guardian after the sentencing, the victim admits she’s glad that the court case is now over and hopes that his imprisonment leads him to a better path.

“I’m happy that it’s all over in a way, it’s been three and a half months since it happened so I’m kind of glad it’s come to fruition now in a way,” she said.

“I’m glad I’m protected for a bit longer.

“I did not get angry or aggressive or fight back so it was very very unwarranted, and I would totally be honest if I thought I had been disrespectful in any way, but I don’t feel like I had.

“So, the fact he’s now got a lengthy sentence, hopefully it helps him.”

During his sentencing, the court heard that Vlonk previously broke a non-molestation order which was put in place to protect another former partner.

“It does concern me a little bit. The restraining order, although it does give me a level of comfort it, doesn’t give me complete satisfaction,” she said.

“The worst things come into your mind like do they have a vendetta? Could they turn up?”

The events of that night have stayed with the victim, who wishes to remain anonymous, and have left her feeling vulnerable around other people.

“I try and get out for some walks, but I just find it hard to go places like the pub with my family,” she said.

“I tend to just self-isolate quite a bit, but I’ve got a lot of support from family and friends so I’m so grateful for that.”

Despite being referred to as Vlonk’s partner in court, the victim had only been with him for three weeks at the time of the assault.

She now hopes that more people are aware of and use Clare’s Law, which allows people to submit a request for information about a current or former partner if they are worried they could be at risk of domestic abuse.

“Maybe there’s a few red flags in a relationship, then something I didn’t do which I wish I had done was go and get that Clare’s Law check,” she said.

“Clare’s Law is something people can use for free, and they can do it at any time at any point in the relationship where then might feel that is required.”