Grant Tapper, who was acquitted four months ago of a number of violent crimes against a woman, is back in custody after allegedly assaulting the same woman with a coffee table.
Tapper, 32, is also accused of threatening to kill the woman’s pet, as well as breaching court orders.
Police were called to a home in the east end of St. John’s around 7:45 p.m. Tuesday in response to a report of a domestic disturbance. Tapper was arrested and taken into custody, while the woman, 33, was charged with assault and breaching court orders. She was released pending a court date.
Related story:
Grant Tapper found not guilty of six violent crimes
Tapper made a brief appearance in provincial court Wednesday afternoon, and was held in custody to await a bail hearing Thursday morning.
Last November, Tapper was convicted of two counts of assaulting the woman, including an incident in which he pushed her to the floor and damaged her fingers so badly she required surgery. He had originally been facing 10 charges — sexually assaulting the woman, trying to choke her, and assaulting her with a hammer and a butter knife, among other allegations — but six of them were dropped after the woman recanted information she had given to police. Judge Colin Flynn sentenced Tapper to time served and ordered him to undergo counselling for domestic violence and alcohol abuse.
Tapper’s criminal record dates back to 2006, when he received a 22-month jail term for aggravated assault. In 2009 he was sentenced to 23 months in jail for two counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm; in 2010, he received 18 months for assaulting a fellow inmate at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary; and, later that year, he was sentenced to a year in jail for having intercourse with a 13-year-old girl in the woods in Torbay.
That same year, Tapper was sentenced to nine months in jail for assaulting a prison guard; in 2015 he served four months for an assault with a weapon conviction, and was also convicted of mischief charges that year and the next.
Twitter: @tara_bradbury
