A thug beat and hurled verbal abuse at his former partner in front of their three children who were trapped in her car.
Elvis Price punched his former partner in the face and called her “a whore” after he demanded she drive him around, Derby Crown Court heard.
The 40-year-old criminal had spotted her with their two sons, aged four and two, and their five-year-old daughter while they sat in a traffic queue in Normanton Road in Derby.
Breaching a restraining order, for a previous assault on the same victim, he let himself into the passenger seat and told her to drive him to Walsall, reports the Derby Telegraph.
Then over the next three hours he shouted at her, called her names and attacked her as she was driving.
Jailing Price for a 26 months, Recorder Martin Butterworth said: “If you are not ashamed of yourself you should be.
“Because those three children were just feet away from you in the car for three hours while you abused her, threatened her and assaulted her on several occasions as she drove you around.
“The harm caused to them and to your partner was very serious in terms of distress.
“It demonstrates that you ignore court order and are simply compelled whenever you feel like it to just go around and see her.”
Leanne Summers, prosecuting, said Price had been let out of prison for an assault on his partner, shortly before he committed this series of offences.
She said the father-of-six knew he was not supposed to contact her due to the restraining order.
But on July 26 he went to her Normanton address, knocked on the door and when she answered started shouting at her, saying he would “smash her car up”.
Miss Summers said two days later he spotted her with the children in stationary traffic in Normanton Road and got in the passenger seat.
She said: “He told her to drive him to Walsall and after first saying ‘no’ she decided to do what he said.
“He started shouting at her and then for no reason hit her to the face with the back of his right hand.
“When they got to the Lichfield area on the A38 he again hit her to the face connecting with her left cheekbone .
“They arrived at his brother’s house and he started calling her ‘a prostitute,’ ‘a whore’ and told her she was ‘good for nothing’.”
Miss Summers said the victim then made her way to the nearest railway station and returned to Derby with the children.
She said Price, of no fixed address, who has has 27 previous convictions for 81 offences to his name, then went round to the woman’s Normanton address again on August 4 and she called the police. He was then arrested.
He pleaded guilty to assault by beating, breaches of a restraining order, handling stolen goods and a public order matter.
Miss Summers said the latter two offences related to him being found staggering drunk on the street with tools which had been stolen from a nearby van on Christmas Day, 2019.
Matthew Hayes, for Price, said his client has mental health and alcohol issues and had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.
He said: “He is sorry for what happened.”
Recorder Butterworth extended the existing restraining order which will now be in place until January 2024.
