A Melksham man turned violent when his ex-girlfriend ended their ‘friends with benefits’ arrangement moments after they’d slept together.
26-year-old Kalvin Bole appeared at Swindon Magistrates’ Court this morning charged with common assault, criminal damage and drink driving. He admitted the three offences.
Crown prosecutor Keith Ballinger said that the defendant, of Gladstone Road, had been in a relationship with the woman for around four months and had been living with her in Calne.
He ended the relationship on Valentine’s Day this year, moved back to his mother’s address and told her that he didn’t want to “drag her down”.
The pair remained in contact and agreed to see each other in a friends with benefits-type arrangement, Mr Ballinger said.
Just days after they separated, Bole had been invited to his ex-girlfriend’s home. They enjoyed food and alcohol together, with his victim describing him as being “super happy”. She asked him to stay the night.
At around 1am the pair went to bed. After being intimate with each other, she decided to tell him that she didn’t want to see him again because she believed he just wanted sex.
He decided to sleep on the sofa following her announcement but soon returned to the bedroom, where he is said to have “flipped”. He called her a “slag” repeatedly, leaving her frightened.
In response to his abusive words, she slapped him in the face before telling him to leave. He became angrier, punching his clenched fist into his other hand.
His victim ran around to the other side of the bed and phoned 999. He responded by punching the light switch on the wall causing it to break. Bole continued to shout at her whilst she cried down the phone to the emergency call handler.
Moments later, she hears his car leave her driveway. Giving the call handler this information, officers located his Honda around half a mile away in Abbard Way at around 2.20am. The responding officer told of how he was “clearly intoxicated”. As a result, he was arrested.
In custody, he blew a reading of 49 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.
During an interview, he told officers they had slept together but he had become emotional – saying abuse words and punching the light switch. He denied driving his car from her driveway to Abbard Way
He later accepted he had driven the car around half a mile and parked up with the intention of sleeping there until the morning, instead of driving all the way back to Melksham.
Defence solicitor Mark Glendenning said his client received a full-force punch to the face, not a slap, but he accepts she would have been upset with what he had said to her.
Knowing he shouldn’t hit her, he was venting his frustration by punching his own palm before hitting the light switch and then driving off, he commented.
He added that Bole, a full-time machine press operator, purposely took himself out of the situation, but accepted he should have kept walking rather than stupidly driving away, even if it was a short distance.
Magistrates imposed a fine of £484 for assault, a fine of £484 for drink driving and costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £97. There was no separate penalty for criminal damage, but Bole must pay £50 compensation.
He was also banned from driving for 12 months, which will be reduced by 12 weeks if he completes a drink-drive rehabilitation course.
