AN abuser slashed a knife at his neighbours and choked his ex-partner during violent scenes in Westcliff.

Romualdas Raskauskas, 49, has been jailed for three years and three months for the attack, which left witnesses “terrified”.

After a fight broke out between Raskauskas and his ex-partner, witnesses called neighbours for help and they confronted him as he was “holding the victim by her neck and had a knife to her throat”.

The neighbours attempted to tackle him as they were caught by Raskauskas waving the blade, suffering “deep gashes” to their arms and hands which required medical attention.

The neighbours eventually retreated with Raskauskas following them before police were called and he was arrested while trying to flee.

Raskauskas initially denied all offences but pleaded guilty on the day of trial to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and two counts of section 20 wounding without intent.

He was jailed yesterday at Basildon Crown Court.

Prosecuting, Toby Roseman, summarised a victim impact statement.

He said: “The victim stated she was suffering from stress, low mood, anxiety. She also said she was struggling to sleep and lost her appetite.

“She had to see her GP and was prescribed medicine to try and help.”

Prior to the incident involving Raskauskas’ ex-partner and neighbour, police had been called to the home as an argument escalated inside the property.

Raskauskas was removed from the address before returning an hour later and grabbed the victim by her throat and threw her to the ground.

He grabbed the victim’s throat tightly as she said she “couldn’t breathe” and was “fearing for her life”.

Judge Samantha Cohen told Raskauskas: “In this incident on July 28 last year, you demonstrated a complete lack of self-control. When escorted from the premises by police, you should have gone for a long walk to calm down and return home later to apologise profusely to your ex-partner.

“Instead, what you did was walked around for an hour whipping yourself up into a fury.”

Raskauskas, of Shakespeare Drive, Westcliff, was sentenced to three years and three months in prison and handed an indefinite restraining order.