Canterbury man jailed over baseball bat assault
A man who assaulted a woman with a baseball bat in Canterbury has been jailed for more than three years. Matthew Pithers, 36, was arrested on Saturday 7 September 2019 after assaulting the woman and threatening to kill her. He was sentenced to three years and one month at Canterbury Crown Court on Tuesday 25 February 2020. The first incident happened on Friday 23 August 2019 when Pithers punched the woman, who was known to him, and hit her around the legs with a baseball bat. On Wednesday 4 September 2019, he then threatened the same woman with a samurai sword, telling her he would kill her and bury her in a garden. He later made threats that he would set fire to the woman’s house. Pithers, of St Andrews Close, Canterbury, denied the assaults when arrested but admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm, assault and making threats to kill at Canterbury Crown Court. Detective Constable Harriet Slegg, Kent Police’s investigating officer, said: ‘I would like to praise the victim in this case for coming forward and supporting our case. I would urge anyone assaulted or threatened by someone they know to report it to police so we can investigate and take action to support them.
