A controlling thug attacked his pregnant girlfriend and gaslighted her into thinking his rages and violence were her fault. Joshua Fregene, 31, has been locked up after the 25-year-old woman bravely told of her ordeal.
The couple, who had been together for a decade and lived in Trafford, would often argue but Fregene would then turn violent. On one occasion, when she was six months pregnant, he threw an object at her which hit her in the stomach.
After initially trying to 'diffuse' the situation he then poured water all over her. She was left with a black eye following another incident after raging Fregene punched her.
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He strangled her on another occasion, and also repeatedly punched her and threatened to slit her throat during another terrifying incident. Throughout the relationship Fregene would search her phone to check if she had been 'unfaithful'.
He smashed her phone up and later banned her from having one. Fregene also emotionally manipulated his victim.
He gaslighted her and tried to make her believe she was causing him 'misery and distress'. He sent her a suicide note and threatened to kill himself, and told her it was 'her fault that the children would grow up without a father'.
Fregene has now been sentenced to three years and one month in prison. After the hearing, Detective Ross Sidebottom of GMP’s Trafford District said: "Firstly of all, I want to acknowledge and commend the victim’s bravery for coming forward and speaking to us about the abuse Fregene inflicted upon her.
"The last few months has undoubtedly been such a distressing process for her and her loved ones and throughout this investigation and trial. Throughout the relationship, verbal arguments and disagreements escalated rapidly and eventually, these arguments became violent at the hands of Fregene.
"He regularly accused the victim of cheating and checked the victim’s phone to ‘check she wasn’t being unfaithful’, he controlled and coerced her into thinking and believing she was in the wrong the manipulation continued.
"In May 2022, Fregene attacked the victim punching her on her arms and nose, causing bruises, a nosebleed and black eye. Later that year, he took the victims phone from her and looked through her phone in an angered state following an argument and he proceeded to damage the phone in a fit of rage.
"In statement taken by the victim, she described how he wouldn’t let her have a phone of her own. She was worried that when he left the house, she didn’t have access to a phone of her own and worried for the safety of her and her children.
"She described one instance where she had an object thrown at her and was hit in the stomach when she was 6 months pregnant at the time. He tried to defuse the situation, but he followed her up the stairs and proceeded to humiliate her and threw water all over her.
“Fregene would emotionally abuse her and gaslight her into thinking she was causing him misery and distress and said he wanted to kill himself because of the victim and threatened to overdose on drugs. The following morning, he strangled the victim as she tried to call for help.
"In October 2022, the victim was also punched continually whilst she was curled up in a ball trying to protect herself from Fregene’s abuse. She plead for him to stop hitting her, but he continued regardless and threatened to slit her throat.
"He proceeded to send a ‘Suicide Note’ to the victims phone telling her it was her fault that the children would grow up without a father. Fregene’s crimes are disgraceful and his lack of remorse for the victim and her children’s welfare is despicable.
"He is a dangerous individual who fully deserves the sentence imposed on him today. I truly hope that the sentence of this dangerous individual brings some form of peace to all the victims and their loved ones."
Fregene, of no fixed address, was sentenced for offences of controlling and coercive behaviour, assault by beating and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. A restraining order was passed preventing him from contacting the woman for five years.
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