The wedding night which couples often anticipate with optimism had turned into a battle field for a 22-year-old woman who was battered by her husband because she could not take off her wedding dress.
Amy Dawson and her husband Gavin Golightly who she dated for a long time tied the knot at St Mary’s Church in West Rainton, County Durham.
They retired to their room after a grand wedding reception at Beamish Hall which had much friends and family last August.
Just few hours after the exchange of marital vows, 29-year-old Golightly descended on his bride and brutally battered her because she asked for his assistance to get out of her wedding dress.
He bruised her face and chest and also inflicted a cut injury on her eyebrow following a heated argument.
The outraged groom was arrested and charged to at Peterlee Magistrates Court on a single count of assault causing bodily harm on his bride.
He admitted to have committed the heinous crime but insisted that he was drugged before the attack and could not recollect anything that transpired between him and his wife.
According to Mirror UK, the bride who is a student of Accountancy has since filed for divorce, saying that her thug husband “means nothing” to her.
Golightly was handed a community order for the bizarre rage although Dawson insisted that the punishment was not harsh enough.
He was further given an order restricting him from any form of contact with his estranged wife.
Narrating her ordeal, Dawson who has a child with Golightly before their wedding said, “When I first met Gavin, he was lovely, I couldn’t fault him.
“He was caring and loving, and when we found we were having baby, we were delighted.
“I fell pregnant after eight months, but almost straight away, Gavin became controlling and manipulative. It was like walking on eggshells.
She added, “When he lashed out at me on my wedding night, I thought I was going to die. I was terrified. He looked like he was going to kill me.
“After the attack, he left the room and I tried to escape, but he came back in and continued to beat me.
“Eventually, I escaped and found a hotel porter, who called the police.
Dawson expressed her disappointment that the wedding ceremony which turned out great ended sour.
She said, “It was such a lovely day, and I was devastated it ended the way it did. It was a huge celebration full of friends and family, and I thought it would have been the fresh start we needed.
“The community order was far too soft. The restraining order is the only thing keeping me strong. He means nothing to me now.”
The prosecutor of the case, Sarah Traynor said, “At 12.55am, the following morning, they went to their room, which she was helped towards by a night porter.
“The defendant then tried to undo Ms Dawson’s dress.
“She received a crochet [to undo the dress with], but the defendant then refused to undo his new wife’s dress.
“The defendant then jumped up from his chair, approached Ms Dawson and pushed her over.
“He then sat on top of her and started punching her with clenched fists.
“He then got up and left the room. It appears that the defendant then came back to the room.
The defendant’s attorney, Robin Ford, from Sunderland, said, “Given the cathartic process that this has been for him, I think he could well come back and get this order taken off early.”
Golightly was also ordered to pay a compensation sum of £200 to Dawson, £85 costs and a £60 victim surcharge.
