Man accused of choking ex, hitting her dog with knife and swinging kitten against fridge
During a contested application for bail, Newtownards Magistrates' Court heard claims that Cameron Pike choked his partner until she lost consciousness
Cameron Pike
During a contested application for bail, Newtownards Magistrates' Court heard claims that Cameron Pike choked his partner until she lost consciousness, made repeated threats that he was going to kill her, held a knife to her throat, threatened to kill himself, 'hacked at his wrists' with a knife, hit her dog with a knife, and swung a kitten against a fridge.
Standing handcuffed in the dock, the defendant, from the Beersbridge Road, was charged with 16 offences alleged to have been committed on May 11 this year.
The 30-year-old faces a raft of charges including accusations of aggravated burglary with intent to inflict GBH, making threats to kill, non-fatal strangulation, criminal damage, causing unnecessary suffering to animals, possessing a weapon, common assault, false imprisonment and domestic abuse.
It was revealed that Pike is already on bail for offences of assault, non-fatal strangulation and criminal damage allegedly committed against the same complainant in November last year.
A PSNI detective constable told the court that police objected to Pike being freed due to fears of further offending, witness interference and that he would not turn up for court appearances.
The detective constable outlined that it was at around 5am on Sunday when a police patrol was flagged down by the complainant whose friend and two children were in the car with her.
The alleged victim reported to police how she had been in her home with her friend when there was a 'loud bang at the front door' just before midnight and the 'heavily intoxicated defendant was then immediately in the living room… and behaving in a bizarre way'.
The court was told he asked his ex 'to say that she loved him', and when she refused, Pike allegedly 'went berserk', kicking a mirror to pieces as she screamed at him to get out of the house.
Pike allegedly 'launched himself' at her and after pushing his forehead into hers and 'growling' at her, he 'bit down on her right cheek just below her eye', leaving her marked and bruised.
'She reports being unable to move and feared the defendant was going to kill her,' said the detective constable, adding that when Pike did get off her he allegedly lifted a glass and threw it at her.
The complainant then ran to the kitchen but Pike followed her, kicking the door through before he rifled through the utensil drawer 'pulling out all the knives'. He allegedly threatened the two women that he was 'going to cut both their throats'.
Cameron Pike
News in 90 Seconds - May 15th
The friend of Pike's ex 'ran for the front door but was caught by the defendant and dragged back in the living room by her neck, thrown on to the sofa and told not to move', the detective constable said.
The court heard that, at one point, Pike was standing with a knife in each hand and 'kept shouting at her and saying if she didn't say she loved him, he would cut his wrists'.
As he began slicing and cutting at himself, Pike declared 'look what you are making me do' and said the two women 'had killed him'.
When Pike's ex told him she had never wanted to be with him, he grabbed her by the throat with both hands, and with sufficient force that he 'lifted her off the ground slightly', he threw her onto the sofa where he got on top of her and began hauling out her hair extensions.
'She repeatedly shouted at him to get off her and leave, but she was conscious not to make too much noise as her children were asleep upstairs,' the detective constable told the court.
Pike got off but started hacking at his wrists again. He then he demanded that she drive him to playing fields in Bangor, warning her that on the way 'he would be holding a knife to her throat while she drove'.
She agreed and said 'let's go' but Pike 'changed the narrative again and said he would only leave if she told him she didn't want to be with him again'.
He allegedly choked her again, this time until she lost consciousness. When she came around, she fled to the kitchen and tried to escape out the back door, but as Pike followed behind her, her dog 'started barking at him'.
Pike allegedly threatened that he would kill the dog and as the 'standard bully' jumped to protect its owner, Pike punched it while still holding the knife, causing a cut to the dog's nose.
Pike also 'turned his attention to her kitten which was sat in its letter tray in the kitchen', lifting the kitten by the tail and flinging it against the fridge.
She told him the police were outside and 'the defendant immediately made a break for the kitchen window and threw himself through it'. The court heard that was only after he held 'a knife to the throat of the complainant and threatened her with 'I'm going to kill you in your sleep'.'
Conceding 'these are obviously serious offences', defence counsel Conan Rea argued that as his client did not have convictions for violence he could be bailed to live with his brother in Crossgar, albeit with a swathe of conditions to address police concerns.
District Judge Conor Heaney told Pike while his barrister had said 'really everything and anything that's possible to be said for you… this court is not satisfied that you'll abide by bail conditions'.
He refused bail and remanded Pike into custody.
The case was adjourned to June 4.
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