Man Forces Washing Liquid Into 8-year-old girl's Mouth, Tries To Strangle Her Mother

A man in the U.K. forced a child to drink washing liquid and tried to strangle her mother in a series of incidents that took place over four months.

A Wednesday court session heard about how the man's controlling behavior came to light after the 8-year-old girl began talking about his actions in school.

Dalton Jefferies, 22, is accused of inflicting physical and psychological harm on his former partner and would have frequent outbursts of temper, which the little girl also witnessed, according to North Wales Live.

The couple's relationship started well, but Jefferies eventually began demeaning his ex-partner in front of her friends and forbidding her from taking her phone out of the room. Jefferies would reportedly rub sandpaper on himself and then blame his partner for making him do it.

On one occasion, Jefferies opened the door and stuck his foot out of a running vehicle that was driving at 50mph, causing damage to his trainers, and blamed the woman for it.

The court heard that Jefferies would terrorize the child as well by calling her stupid and forcing her mouth open to pour washing liquid into it. The girl would fall ill and experience tummy aches after ingesting the washing liquid, Prosecutor Anna Pope said.

The relationship, which ran from July to October, came to an end after the girl started talking about Jefferies' actions in school. The child's mother also started recording Jefferies' actions, ITV reported.

The man told her he would "chew her tongue off" in one of the recordings the victims made.

Philip Clemo, who was representing Jefferies, said in court that he had a personality disorder as well as a difficult childhood.

"He does not want to use his appalling childhood and mental health issues as an excuse ...," Clemo reportedly said.

The judge told Jefferies that he showed "minimal remorse" and blamed the woman "for what happened for most of the time."

Jefferies was sentenced to two-and-a-half years for abusing his partner and given a 15-month jail term for child cruelty.

The judge said both prison terms would run concurrently.

A restraining order was also put in place to ensure he does not contact the victims.

"This sentence is welcomed because not only does it reinforce that abhorrent behavior such as this is unlawful and will be punished, but hopefully will build confidence in others to report to us if they themselves, or someone they know is a victim of coercive and controlling behavior," said Detective Sergeant Adam Sergeant, of North Wales Police.