R v Wilfred Wambugu

Facts

The applicant, a Kenyan national now aged 36, married Ms Brooks in September 2018; they split their time between his home in Devon and her home in Kingston upon Thames. He was tried in the Crown Court at Kingston upon Thames on an indictment alleging assaults against her. Count 1 alleged a section 47 assault on 7 September 2020, when he put her in a headlock and punched her face repeatedly; she attended hospital in Devon and reported the matter, and photographs of her injuries were taken. He was arrested on 1 December 2020 and gave a prepared statement asserting she had injured herself falling out of bed while drunk, and was charged in December 2021. After a reconciliation, a telephone call in which he admitted the first assault was recorded by her friend Sam Roberts. Counts 2 and 3 alleged assaults in early May 2022. Representing himself, and having chosen not to give evidence, the applicant was convicted by the jury of two offences of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one of assault by beating, and acquitted on count 4. He had also been committed for sentence for two further assaults on her following conviction in the magistrates' court. On 3 August 2023 Mr Recorder Bruce sentenced him to 3½ years' imprisonment in total. He appealed out of time against conviction and sentence; the single judge refused leave on 23 February 2024, and he renewed more than two years late.