A man rained down blows on the boyfriend of his partner’s daughter - after they were both asked to leave the house when they messed up a toilet repair.

Robert Zasada, 31, struck the man so hard with a chisel that he broke his skull, leaving him with cuts to his head and a bleed on the brain.

Appearing before Oxford Crown Court, the defendant pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm but denied the more serious alternative charge of wounding with intent.

Judge Nigel Daly heard that the plea was entered on a basis that he’d acted in excessive self-defence, claiming that he believed his victim had a knife on him.

Earlier, prosecutor Jonathan Stone said that Zasada was in a relationship with the mother of his victim’s girlfriend.

On the day of the assault, on October 8 last year, the defendant and the victim returned from a funeral and shared cans of beer at the partner's Abingdon home.

Zasada’s barrister, Diana Wilson, said: “The complainant and defendant had been fixing a toilet [in the partner’s home] and the fact they hadn’t done it very well was the reason they were both being thrown out [of the house].”

She claimed that the victim had 'badly' mistreated his girlfriend – the daughter of Zasada’s partner – and the defendant ‘wanted to make sure he left when he [the defendant] was leaving’.

The victim said in his statement, summarised by Mr Stone, that he’d been sat with his back to the door when he felt an ‘incredible pain’ to the back of his head.

He looked round to find Zasada standing over him with a chisel in his hand ‘raining blows’ on him, Mr Stone told the court.

His victim rolled off the bed and onto the floor as the mother and her daughter stepped in to break up the violence.

The defendant left the house but was swiftly caught by the police.

The court heard the victim suffered a fractured skull, a bleed on the brain and a number of small cuts to his head. He did not require surgery.

Herald Series: Robert Zasada Picture: TVPRobert Zasada Picture: TVP

Zasada, formerly of Botley Road, Oxford, had been due to stand trial charged with wounding with intent but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of GBH.

He had 35 charges on his rap sheet including an attempted robbery in 2016 and a robbery the following year.

Ms Wilson, mitigating, said her client ‘wanted to go straight’ on his release from prison. He had been working with a violence reduction support worker while inside.

Jailing him for 26 months, Judge Daly said Zasada’s previous convictions suggested he resorted to violence ‘pretty quickly’.

“I am pleased to see you have been doing something about it whilst in prison and I hope indeed when you are released it has some effect and we don’t see you again,” he said.

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