An Onchan woman has been sentenced to 20 weeks’ jail for abusing her partner.

Charlotte Rebecca Dougherty bit the man, made him shave his head, insisted that he stop listening to certain music, demanded that he not drink alcohol or eat bacon, and hit him with an iPad.

He said it was as if Dougherty had gone ‘down the rabbit hole’ after talking to a man online, as she became violent and scary, a ‘religious fanatic’, and would not trust ‘the system’ or ‘pharma’.

The victim said that his partner had stopped taking her prescription medication at the time of the offences.

Dougherty has already spent 26 weeks on remand so she is time served and will be released immediately.

High Bailiff Jayne Hughes also made a restraining order prohibiting her from having any contact with her former partner until a further order.

We previously reported that the victim had been in a relationship with Dougherty since 2015.

He had given up his job to be her carer as she suffered from health issues.

In February 2023, the victim said that Dougherty said she had started talking to a man online about church, but that he was not sure if the man was actually real.

The victim said that his partner became fanatical and would get upset if he did not believe in certain things.

He said that she became obsessed with religion, demanding that he stop listening to certain music, such as David Bowie and Queen, and that he study the Bible instead.

She accused him of sleeping with people and would get him to agree to nonsensical things.

Dougherty made him stop drinking, saying that it was ‘bad energy’, and would call him names such as vile derogatory names.

He said that if he reacted in a way she didn’t like it would make matters worse.

She also made him use money given to him by his parents to buy a magnet for purifying water and made him shave his head, then refusing to let him grow his hair.

The man said that she had also pinned him down, pulled his hair, dug her nails into him, and bitten him, growling as she did it and breaking the skin.

He said that he had to then apologise to her.

The victim said that on another occasion he had been using an Ipad when Dougherty took it off him and hit him on the head with it, then spat in his face and bit his bicep.

Dougherty herself was the one who called 999, telling police that her partner had locked himself in his car and was having a seizure.

He later told police that he had just been wanting to get away from her.

Dougherty became the first person to be charged with a domestic abuse offence under new Manx legislation introduced in January.

After being arrested, she initially pleaded not guilty but then changed her plea to guilty the day before her trial.

A second charge, of common assault, was dismissed after the Crown offered no evidence in light of the guilty plea to the domestic abuse offence.

Defence advocate James Peterson said: ‘This is a very sad case for all those involved.

‘Ms Dougherty is deeply sorry for the hurt caused to her former partner.

‘It has taken a great deal of time to come to terms with what she did.

‘Initially she couldn’t believe she could have done the things she was accused of.’

Mr Peterson referred to a doctor’s report saying that his client was suffering from significant mental health issues but had been deemed capable of forming intent.

The advocate said that the couple had had a complex relationship but that the offences were not likely to be repeated.

A probation report assessed Dougherty as a low risk of reoffending and of risk of harm to others.

Mr Peterson asked for credit to be given for the guilty plea, saying that, although it had been late in the day, it had spared the victim the ordeal of giving evidence.

The court heard that Dougherty has no previous convictions and will be living at Viva Heights, an adult care home, upon her release.