The teenager has now pledged to a judge that he will not seek a relationship with another partner
A man bit his pregnant girlfriend at the Range. Zach Skeech flew into a rage when the mum-to-be hugged a friend in the store’s car park.
This was not the first time the thug had sunk his teeth into a woman, having bitten a previous partner who he also shot with a BB gun. He has now pledged to a judge that he will not seek another relationship upon his release from prison.
Liverpool Crown Court heard yesterday, Tuesday, that Grace McCarthy received a text from her now ex-boyfriend Skeech inviting her to meet with friends in St Helens town centre on February 19 this year. After meeting in the car park of the Range on Chalon Way, she hugged their mutual acquaintance Damian Morton.
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But Helen Chenery, prosecuting, described how this provoked “jealousy and anger” in the defendant, who reacted by telling her that he was “going to have her unborn child taken off her”. Ms McCarthy was eight weeks pregnant with Skeech’s baby at the time.
The 19-year-old, of Latham Avenue in Newton-le-Willows, then slapped her in the face before grabbing her by the coat, pulling her towards him and biting her twice on either side of the neck. She began bleeding but suffered only “relatively minor” injuries as a result.
Ms McCarthy reported Skeech’s behaviour to the police on February 21 after receiving a message from him stating “I will come and find you and kill you”. In a statement read out to the court on her behalf, she said: “My mental health deteriorated after the incident. I was not leaving my home. My anxiety was bad and I was terrified that I might walk into Zach again and something like this might happen again, or worse.
“Now I have received support, I have moved on with my life. I am looking forward to a positive future with my baby. I now feel like I’m getting back on track.”
Skeech’s actions placed him in breach of a community order which he was handed in December 2023 for two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, possession of an imitation firearm in a public place and a malicious communications offence. This conviction related to his then 17-year-old girlfriend, who he had been in a relationship with during February 2023.
The court heard the couple had been in a park in Newton on February 20 that year when he slapped his girlfriend in the face “without provocation”. Skeech then punched her in the bicep around six times and bit her.
He was also said to have shot her with a BB gun during another incident in April 2023. The teen went on to leave her a Snapchat voice message on May 24, during which he stated: “I’m going to say this once. Slag my sister, come down here. I’ll get my family and we’ll all stab you.”
Another person was meanwhile heard in the background saying “we all know where you live”. Skeech failed to complete any community service or rehabilitation activity requirement days he was handed as part of this sentence, while he similarly never commenced a mental health treatment requirement he was told to undergo.
Paul Wood, defending, told the court his client had been in custody on remand for more than eight months since his latest attack on a partner and added: “That would be the equivalent of a significant sentence in any event. Regardless of his age, he is an immature individual in my respectful submission.
“He has had a remarkably disrupted and traumatic childhood. He described his mother as being emotionally unavailable. She was the victim of domestic violence. He witnessed that. He describes his relationship with his mum as very poor. She had mental health, alcohol and drug issues. He says that alcohol and drugs were given priority over her being a mother to him.
“As far as his father is concerned, he went to prison for assaulting his mother. He was clearly a violent man. He had issues with drink. Since he was 13 years of age, he has not had any dealings with his father.
“He moved in with his grandparents. He had a particularly close relationship with his grandfather, who sadly died in 2018. His one remaining beacon of light is his nan. He clearly has a lot of love and respect for her.
“The defendant found education challenging. He left mainstream education when he was 11 years of age. He says his reading and writing is basic. He cannot tell the time. I say that not to embarrass the defendant but so that your honour knows the functioning level he is at, which is very basic.
“As far as his mental health is concerned, he suffers with depression and anxiety. He has got a history of self harm. He describes symptoms of hearing distressing voices.
“During what has been quite a prolonged period in custody, which he has found difficult, he has reflected and he says he has grown up. In essence, he is a broken young man in many respects.”
Skeech admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm, a malicious communications offence and breaching a community order. Appearing via video link to HMP Liverpool, he was handed a three-year community order with 150 hours of unpaid work, a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 30 days, a programme requirement and a mental health treatment requirement.
Sentencing, Judge Denis Watson KC said: “That your behaviour towards these two individuals is disgraceful is without question. You seem to react to anything that upsets you with violence, spiteful violence as well. To mark a girl by biting her in the neck is a particularly vindictive and cruel thing to do. I have no doubt that you intended her scars to be visible.
“I have read a lot about you and your background and upbringing. I don’t pretend that it is anything other than an unhappy one for the most part.
“You richly deserve to be sentenced to custody for the combination of offending you committed against Molly Mae Cowdry and Grace McCarthy. But Mr Wood has pointed out that – unattractive though it may seem at first glance – the reality is that, by sending you to detention in a young offenders’ institute, you would be released likely in the next few weeks, if not sooner, without any structure to support you.
“There would be no help, and help is very much needed. Very much contrary to my first instincts, I have been persuaded to consider a community-based sentence. If you do not take this chance, you will be serving a substantial sentence of detention. Don’t go finding a new girlfriend and threatening and biting her.”
Skeech, who was also handed a restraining order banning him from contacting Ms McCarthy for four years, replied: “I’m not going to get a girlfriend when I get out.”
