Filey man jailed after spate of drunken violence at Scarborough birthday party

A man has been jailed for a spate of drunken violence at a boozy birthday bash which left two women in hospital - one with a broken ankle and the other with a damaged eye.
Ottavio GadaletaOttavio Gadaleta
Ottavio Gadaleta

Ottavio Gadaleta, 29, went berserk at the party in Scarborough after being spurned by one of the victims after he asked her to speak with him, York Crown Court heard.

Gadaleta started insulting the women in the back garden and “stormed off” into the house, said prosecutor John Harley.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He later marched up to one of the women on the driveway, ranting and raving, and held his fist up as if he were about to punch her.

Two of the other female victims, including the woman who was celebrating her birthday, stood between Gadaleta and the woman, who was pregnant.

Gadaleta, a strapping man, then pushed one of the women trying to protect her friend, causing her to fall backwards and hit the back of her head on a kerbstone, knocking her unconscious.

The female party host, who was named in court, tried to stop Gadaleta, who responded by punching her in the eye, “knocking her glasses into her face”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She punched him back but then Gadaleta, who was drunk, “lost control”, grabbing her by the arms and shaking her “violently”, before throwing her sideways onto the road.

“She landed about 15ft away from where she was standing,” said Mr Harley.

“Her ankle buckled underneath her. She felt an intense pain and knew straight away that something serious had happened to her ankle.”

An X-ray revealed the woman had broken her ankle.

She also suffered swelling and bruising to her eye and elbows. Her leg had to be encased in plaster.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

An ambulance was called to the scene after the woman who hit her head on the kerb “blacked out”.

“She didn’t go to hospital at first but the following morning she had blurred vision in her right eye,” said Mr Harley.

“She had an X-ray and a CT scan and was told that the bang to her head had damaged one of her optical muscles.”

The victim, Gadaleta’s ex-girlfriend, was kept in hospital overnight where doctors diagnosed eye trauma but no permanent damage.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The pregnant woman who had been threatened by Gadaleta on the driveway said she had since suffered from anxiety.

Following the attack in August last year, she was scared to leave her house for fear of bumping into him and had suffered flashbacks.

The injured party host - a mother-of-two who worked as a carer during the first Covid lockdown - said she and her family had been looking forward to a nice summer after she had been forced to self-isolate due to her work.

But due to Gadaleta’s actions, her family had to “watch me suffer” and she couldn’t work because of her broken leg, resulting in serious financial difficulties.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She had since suffered panic attacks, became practically housebound due to her injuries and “doesn’t feel safe in her own town”, said Mr Harley.

The victim said that Gadaleta “is not the person I thought he was”.

Gadaleta, of Meadow View, Filey, appeared for sentence on Monday after pleading guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to one of the injured women and actual bodily harm to the other.

He admitted common assault in relation to the woman he threatened on the driveway.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Taryn Turner, for Gadaleta, said that a raft of character references for the father-of-two “present a very different picture from the drunken man (on the day in question)”, but she conceded that his behaviour had been “disgraceful”.

She said that Gadaleta, who now lived alone, had been trying to start up a computer-repair business and was a “hard-working man”.

Jailing him for 12 months, Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, told Gadaleta he had behaved “disgracefully”.

A message from the editor

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the highest standards in the world.

The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers and consequently the advertising that we receive.

We are now more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you,

Jean MacQuarrie, Editor-in-Chief