A family has paid tribute to mum who took her own life after an attack by her "monster" boyfriend
Jonathon West was handed a three-year community order on Friday for two assaults on his former partner Marina DiCarlo.
The court heard that Marina, 56, from Gateshead, took her own life just weeks after the second of these attacks.
It followed a two-year relationship with West, of Walker, Newcastle, during which time her close, loving family claims they were not able to see Marina.
Newcastle Crown Court was told he had been "abusive" to Marina "throughout" the relationship.
An official inquest has not yet been held into her death.
Anita Reynolds, Marina's sister told Chronicle Live : "She couldn't cope anymore, she was gone.
"If Marina hadn't met him, she would be alive today. He's a monster, a real monster. We want people to know what he is."
Marina was described as a beloved daughter, sister, friend, mother and grandmother who "absolutely adored" her daughter Rachael and 13-year-old grandson.
She was "the life and soul of the party" by those who knew her, but during her relationship with West, family say, they hardly saw her.
Her sister, Yolanda DiCarlo, told the court that West "seemed to wear her down and make her feel worthless".
Following the sentencing, Marina's family chose to speak out in a bid to raise awareness of the devastating impact of abuse in relationships.
Anita told ChronicleLive : "We want to make people aware of these men, who isolate women, they use coercive control, they don't let them see their loved ones, because that's what they do.
"They really make the woman believe that they are all they need and they are the one person they can depend on and they're not, they're abusing them.
"They don't even realise themselves they're being controlled.
"We want everybody to aware of exactly how this can happen, to someone we thought he couldn't have controlled because she was feisty and all of that and he got her like that within two years.
"For other women, who might be reading this who might think 'this is happening to me', we want to raise awareness. Some people get away, some people don't and she couldn't take any more, basically.
"I think he had beaten her down from being a strong, happy, loving person to the point where she just had no life."
West, 53, had pleaded guilty to two counts of common assault against Ms DiCarlo. He was not charged with any offence of coercive or controlling behaviour.
Despite her happy, generous nature, Marina had been affected by depression ever since the suicide of her brother, Antonio, as a young man, which her mother, Jeanne Jackson, believes made her daughter "more vulnerable" to abuse.
"It's so hard, to lose both of my children like that," Jeanne said.
"I will never forget that call, the police coming to the door.
"We couldn't understand how he got her to that point because she could stand up for herself, she was a strong person.
"We know now that it can happen to anybody, because we never would have thought anybody would be able to control Marina."
Anita added: "The loss is so hard for all of us, especially for her daughter Rachael and her grandson, who was only nine when she died. They now have to face the rest of their lives without such a loving mother and grandmother."
At Friday's sentencing hearing Jeanne and Anita, alongside Marina's other sister Yolanda and daughter Rachael Grieves, stood and delivered victim impact statement in front of the court.
The family said they had wanted to face West and tell him how he'd hurt the woman who is now unable to tell her own story.
Jeanne said: "Marina's not here to speak and we are her voice."
Sentencing West, Judge Christopher Prince told him: "The family have, and are entitled to have - many, if not all, would say, with very good reason - their personal views as to your overall conduct beyond the offences that you fall to be sentenced for today and the effect that that conduct had over a period of time on Miss DiCarlo.
"This court is restricted by the restrictions and guidelines which apply to the offences for which you fall to be sentenced..
"The family, I know, will say they are a drop in the ocean, but they are the two drops in the ocean for which you fall to be sentenced today".
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