A THUG held a stun gun to the neck of his estranged wife and told her: ‘If I switch it on now you will die’.

Jakub Chmurak also threatened the mother of his child with knives and other weapons during the terrifying attack after she had put their daughter to bed.

But saying the 34-year-old Pole will receive more help in the community than in custody Judge Robert Pawson imposed a suspended sentence.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court the couple wed in 2008 but their marriage started to falter in 2011 following the birth of their child.The woman claimed he started to exhibit controlling and aggressive behaviour and by the time of the offence she had moved out and started a new relationship.

On September 12 the mum had gone to the former matrimonial home to put their seven-year-old to bed, because she was staying with her dad.

He said Chmurak then set about her, demanding to examine her mobile phone to see who she had been contacting. He pulled her by the hair into the bedroom and threw her on to the bed before part strangling her.

Mr Meeke said a number of weapons including machetes, knives and a stun gun, which she called a paralyser, were already on the bed.

Mr Meeke said “He threatened to kill her. He forced the paralyser as she was held down, he didn’t turn it on but he told her: ‘If I switch it on now you will die’.

“There are two marks on her throat consistent with the two contact points of certain stun guns being pressed in to her neck.

“He had straddled her. He started strangling her. She was losing consciousness. He was determined to see her phone and find what messages had been passed. She was constantly in fear, she said she saw madness in his eyes. She was terrified. He raised a knife to her which she described as a machete. He held his hand over her mouth, she had difficulty breathing.”

But she managed to break free and despite him again trying to strangle her as she got away she managed to flee the flat in Curtis Court, on Commercial Road.

He said that while the victim spoke of the terrifying incident she was fair enough to say Chmurak was a good father to their child.

Chmurak, now of Mazurek Way, Haydon End, initially denied actual bodily harm, only pleading guilty on the day of trial after being told he would not go to jail.

Passing sentence the judge said “There is, by your own admission in the pre-sentence report, a background of physical intimidation within the relationship. You say that that was mutual.

“My response to that Mr Chmurak is that you need to develop a bit more insight. Violence between a man and woman is almost never mutual, for obvious reasons. You don’t raise a hand to a woman any more than you don’t raise your hand to a man who is three stone and four inches shorter than you. It is just bullying behaviour.

“You have shown some empathy for what you put your wife through but you continue to minimise the impact of your culpability or blameworthiness.”

He imposed a 14-month jail term suspended for two years with 200 hours of unpaid work, a Building Better Relationships programme and a restraining order. The judge said “I am giving you a chance because it seems it is in your best interests and the interests of society as a whole.”