A SYNOD Inn man has admitted assaulting his pregnant partner.

Daniel Oliver Thomas, of Dolcoed, Rhyd y Beillen, pleaded guilty to two charges of assault on Sarah Kelland, who was six weeks pregnant at the time, on 20 December.

His solicitor said he regrets that he had “laid hands” on her during an extended argument.

Prosecutor Helen Tench told Aberystwyth magistrates the couple were arguing during the day that led to Thomas grabbing Ms Kelland by the neck and dragging her out of their house before locking her out.

Ms Kelland knocked on the door to get back in, but Thomas, 32, then grabbed her again and pulled her back into the house causing her to knock her arm.

Following the incident Ms Kelland decided she was going to spend the night at her mother’s home, but when packing an overnight bag, Ms Tench said Thomas assumed she was leaving permanently and started packing her belongings up and throwing them around the house and pushing and barging Ms Kelland.

Ms Tench said Thomas then threw a roll of recycling bags at Ms Kelland which hit her in the face.

She became scared and tried to phone the police, but Thomas snatched the phone back from her leading to Ms Kelland leaving the house and locking herself in the car.

When police phoned her back, Ms Tench said Ms Kelland had said that calling the police was an accident and that her boyfriend was “messing around” because she was panicked, before eventually telling the police that she had been assaulted.

Following his arrest Thomas told police that the couple had been arguing and admitted that he had grabbed Ms Kelland and ushered her outside.

He denied grabbing her by the neck and by the neck of her clothing and said he had tried to calm Ms Kelland down and had been trying to help her pack some things so she could go to her mother’s home.

Defence solicitor Alison Mathias said, while Thomas accepted that he assaulted Ms Kelland, he didn’t accept that he had grabbed her around the neck area. She said the couple had been going through a lot of stress following an earlier miscarriage and had been arguing, but that Thomas thought he had been supportive toward Ms Kelland but now realised that may not be the case.

Ms Mathias said Thomas had not thrown the recycling bags at Ms Kelland, but that he had knocked them away after she had been hitting him with them and that they had bounced off the ceiling and hit Ms Kelland.

She added that Thomas regretted the incident and wanted to apologise to Ms Kelland.

Magistrates decided that they wanted a pre-sentence report before deciding how to sentence Thomas and released him on conditional bail until a hearing on 1 February.