Lottery winner David Bonnick has been jailed for attacking his girlfriend in a drunken rage.
Bonnick was 30 when he won a whopping £300,000 on a scratchcard. He quit his job and after “falling in with the wrong crowd”, he descended into drug and alcohol addiction.
The man was imprisoned for 17 months for attacking his girlfriend Ellen Sweeney when she initiated their breakup. This completed his downfall.
The woman was so scared of him and therefore she decided to finish with him in public at the Bristol Royal Infirmary, where he had an appointment.
However, Bonnick still “did not react well”. Blinded by anger, the 32-year-old chased Sweeney to the adjoining Bristol Children’s Hospital and floored the woman with a vicious punch.
Sweeney lost a tooth and was left with a fractured jaw, which was later inserted with metal plates. The attacker had threatened the woman earlier that day: “There’s going to be tears today, there’s going to be teeth knocked out, you mark my words.”
Bonnick pleaded guilty to the attack in August. He was sent to prison on 28th September.
Sweeney, Bonnick’s girlfriend of 3 years, recounted how she had tried to cut him off for a long time.
“David is extremely controlling. Do what he says and things are okay. If not he is violent and I’m sick of being his punchbag. I fear he could do anything to me in private and I could end up dead,”
“My life and being a mother are worth more to me than what is happening.”
Lawyer Peter Binder, representing Bonnick, defended that his client had a serious drinking problem. “He was drunk at the time. When sober he is the nicest person in the world.”
“I don’t make a restraining order because there is every sign that this relationship has continued when it is clearly corrosive to both of you and out of all logic that it should continue.” said Judge Mark Horton to Bonnick.
