'She’s my bird and I’ll do what I want' - Sexist brute from Skelmersdale jailed for attack on partner
A sexist bully who claimed washing up was woman’s work was accused by a judge of having “deep-rooted misogyny” when he appeared in court charged with assaulting his girlfriend.
Steffan Pattie was said to have told a neighbour who saw him head-butt his partner: “She’s my bird and I’ll do what I want.”
The city’s Crown Court heard the 28-year-old tried to strangle her while she was pregnant. On other occasions he kicked and punched her leaving her badly bruised.
He also left two infant children screaming and hungry upstairs while he played on his Xbox.
Pattie pleaded guilty to four offences saying his partner had “pushed his buttons”. He put it down to the stress and pressure of fatherhood.
But a judge condemned his brutish behaviour and sent him to prison for two years.
Pattie was charged with intentional strangulation of his ex-partner, assault causing her actual bodily harm, battery and causing criminal damage to her house.
Passing sentence Recorder Ben Lawrence told him his partner and her children “need protecting from you”.
He added: “I hope she may see the reality of you and the situation while you serve time in prison.”
The court heard that the couple’s relationship since 2020 had gradually soured and turned abusive. He was previously violent towards her, but no action had been taken against him. He also had unconnected convictions for violence on his record.
In May 2023, while she was pregnant, she was “taken down to the floor” by him during a row before he put both his hands round her neck. She managed to struggle free, but as she tried to get up he “slammed” her back down again.
Prosecuting barrister Jack Troup said that on another occasion she had been out to visit her grandmother and came home to find Pattie playing on his gaming console while her eldest child was screaming and crying upstairs and her baby hadn’t been fed a bottle.
An argument ensued and when she started to tidy up he came into the kitchen and told her washing the dishes was her job, not his. He grabbed her and kicked her, causing her to fall on the floor. He then pushed her against a door and punched her to the face, leaving her bruised.
On a further occasion Pattie woke at 12:30pm and began arguing with her over the care of his dog. During the row he headbutted her in the back garden, an assault which was witnessed by a neighbour and one of her children.
When confronted he told the neighbour: “She’s my bird and I’ll do what I want.”
The victim went back into the house and locked Pattie out. At that point he produced a kitchen knife and shouted: “If you don’t open the door I’m going to stab you up.”
After climbing back in through a window he caused damage in several rooms. He was taken to another house by a friend to calm down but pulled the doorbell off as he was leaving.
Despite all that had happened the woman declined to make a victim impact statement to police. She also refused to apply for a restraining order because she “didn’t want to cause any further difficulty” for him.
Pattie’s defence barrister said her client had now spent more than three months in custody on remand and urged the judge to pass only a suspended sentence.
She said that in prison he had had time to reflect on what he had done and the effect it had on his victim and the children.
“He takes full responsibility,” Miss Iqbal added, saying he had underlying mental health issues which may have contributed to how he behaved.
“He wants to be a better person for himself and his family and society in general.”
She said that at the time he had come off his medication and had turned back to cannabis which he had been addicted to since the age of 16.
He had struggled to come to terms with being a father and the responsibilities that came with it. But the assaults were just a “blip” for him as he tried to get his life back on track.
This was not a case, she argued, where immediate custody was the only form of punishment.
Recorder Lawrence disagreed and told Pattie: “You were supposed to be taking your medication but you didn’t. Instead you self-medicated by smoking cannabis.
“You said washing up was a woman’s job. You said ‘she’s my bird and I’ll do what I want,’ so you thought it was OK to use violence on your partner.
“She locked you outside and your response was to threaten to stab her.”
He said the victim had felt “pressured” by his actions and so called the police. But she had also said to officers that he was “often a good father”.
“She said you were not a threat to her or the children. I struggle to share that view. You have a record for violence.”
He said Pattie, of Fairburn, Skelmersdale, had put his behaviour down to “the stress and pressure of fatherhood”. But everyone who suffered from that did not resort to violence like he had, he said.
He had also said Pattie had admitted his behaviour had been “unacceptable and disgraceful”. In a letter to the court from a relative he had revealed he was “devastated” by the way he had acted.
But the judge felt the offences were so serious that a custodial sentence was inevitable.
He said the lengthy period of domestic abuse showed Pattie suffered from “deep-rooted misogyny” and posed a high risk of reoffending.
“You strangled her, you kicked her, punched her and headbutted her to the face. You threatened to stab her. All done either while she was pregnant or in front of the children which must have been damaging to them.”