A woman is waiting to learn if she has epilepsy after her partner slammed a door into her face, York Magistrates Court heard.

A police control room operator heard “lots of screaming” as John O’Sullivan attacked the woman, said Kathryn Walters, prosecuting.  

At one point, she was knocked unconscious and came to with him standing over her.

When police arrested him a short time later, he had a machete on him.

York Magistrates Court heard that the woman fled Norton following the attack and now lives elsewhere in the country.

O’Sullivan 40, of Commercial Street, Norton, denied causing the woman actual bodily harm and carrying a blade in public and then failed to attend his trial. He was convicted in his absence.  Following his arrest on warrant, he pleaded guilty to failure to answer bail.

District judge Adrian Lower said the offences merited a prison sentence but he could suspend it.

“This is quite out of character for you,” he told O’Sullivan. “You have not been in the habit of beating people up and taking knives out into the street.”

He passed a 26-week prison sentence suspended for two years on condition O’Sullivan does 40 days’ rehabilitative activities. O’Sullivan was banned indefinitely from contacting the woman in any way or going to anywhere she is living under a restraining order and must pay a £154 statutory surcharge and £85 prosecution costs.

Mrs Walters said the woman called police at 8am on October 5 last year after she told O’Sullivan to leave her home and he turned violent.  

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During the argument, she tried to barricade herself into a bedroom and he slammed a door into her face.

After the attack her face was covered in blood and she needed stitches inserting into a cut on her face.

In a personal statement, she said she now feels helpless, her mental health had deteriorated and she was awaiting a brain scan to see if the attack had affected her in an epileptic way.

Defence solicitor Craig Robertson there had been no incident between the two since October.

O’Sullivan had not used the machete. He had it with him because he was moving it from the woman’s house where he had kept it during the relationship.

He had “significant mental health issues” and was engaging with mental health professionals but didn’t want to take medication for them.

“He is always going to struggle with his mental health,” said the defence solicitor.