Burnley dad attacked mother in street, hurting baby son

The child, who was around eight months old, suffered bruising and swelling to his face as he landed on the pavement during the street assault.

Burnley Crown Court heard how two passers-by came to the aid of the young mum as she was walking with the pram down the street in Burnley in December.

Joss Cunningham was only five days away from a trial in which he was due to answer to previous assault charges on the same victim.

The court was told how Cunningham, 33, had assaulted his then partner in July, slapping her to the face several times with the palm of his hand before punching her to the right eye.

Joss Cunningham (Image: Lancs Police)

Prosecuting, Stephen Parker said: “On the morning of July 30, one of the victim’s other children phoned her grandmother to tell her about a disturbance at the house involving the defendant.

“The victim’s mother called the police.

“On this day the police were actually called to the address on three separate occasions, and on two of these the defendant had run off.

“The victim said there was nothing but verbal abuse that took place but on the third occasion she said that he had hit her several times to the face and then punched her in the right eye.

“He was charged and released on conditional bail and told not to contact his partner, with a trial date set in the lower courts for December 9.

“However five days before the trial he committed further offences.”

The court heard how on December 4 Cunningham’s victim had been walking down the street with one of her daughters and their young son who was in his pram.

All of a sudden she saw the defendant, who appeared to be acting strangely.

Mr Parker went on: “He approached her and punched her in the head and knocked her phone out of her hand.

“She tried to run and when she got onto Ormerod Street turned around and saw the defendant following her.

“She then remembers being attacked from behind, had her hood ripped and felt him trying to get into her pockets.

“He grabbed the pram and in trying to pull the victim to the floor, tipped the pram over and his young son fell out.”

The court was told that while on the floor, Cunningham punched his victim again while her daughter stood there screaming.

Mr Parker explained the young boy had been knocked out of the pram and was crying on the floor with visible swelling and grazes to his head.

A couple passing in their car stopped to help the victim but Cunningham left the scene.

Cunningham was then charged with these further offences, which he committed while on bail.

He was also in breach of a community order imposed on him in 2021 for driving with excess alcohol and an assault on two emergency workers.

He pleaded guilty to common assault, assault by beating and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The victim said she had been left feeling anxious and only felt safe to leave the house some considerable time after the offences.

Mr Parker added: “He chipped away at her identity and left her feeling worthless and scared to enter a relationship again.”

Mitigating, Kristian Kavanagh said his client, who has three other children from a previous relationship, was genuinely remorseful and had described the time he spent on remand as a “nightmare”.

Cunningham, of Albert Street, Burnley, has eight convictions for nine offences and was sentenced to 14 months in jail.