A diagnosed schizophrenic punched a female friend in the face before hitting her with a skirting board and smashing a vase over her head because he hadn’t been taking his medication.

Steve Sevieri also made threats to the victim’s life so loudly on the phone that police officers were able to hear them.

Sevieri, 30, of Wentworth Way in Saltash, was brought to Truro Crown Court from HMP Exeter for sentence having admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm, criminal damage, making threats to kill, being in possession of a bladed article and money laundering.

Prosecuting the case, Philip Lee described how the first offences, the possession of a bladed article and money laundering counts occurred in March 2019 when police stopped Sevieri in his car at Newquay Morrison’s.

Sevieri was found to have on him a bumbag containing a large amount of cash wrapped in clingfilm and a lock knife with a three inch blade.

Officers then searched Sevieri’s then address in Bodmin and found a further clingfilm wrapped cash stash. The total cash amounted to more than £5,000.

The second, more serious set of offences took place on March 8 of this year.

Mr Lee said: “The victim had known the defendant for 15 years as a friend. On March 8 she was at her home in Saltash with another lodger.

“She couldn’t find her keys so climbed through a window. The defendant and a female friend arrived and he was extremely angry.

“He punched the victim to the floor and punched her repeatedly while sitting on top of her.

“He grabbed her by the throat and then hit her with a loose skirting board before smashing a vase over her head.”

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Mr Lee went onto describe how Sevieri’s friend took the victim to the police station where officers were able to overhear him threatening to kill her and burn her house down.

Representing Sevieri, Chris Andrews said: “He recognises it was a particularly unpleasant assault and has showed some remorse. He pleaded guilty the very next day at the magistrates’ court.

“He has a Class A drug addiction and mental health problems. He is a diagnosed schizophrenic and at the time of these offences was not taking his medication.”

Sentencing, Judge Simon Carr recapped how the victim was a good friend of Sevieri’s and that the motivating feature behind the attack was that he wasn’t taking his medication.

Judge Carr described the violent incident as a “sustained and frankly brutal assault”, adding that it was lucky the victim didn’t suffer more serious injuries.

Judge Carr also said that given Sevieri’s drug habit, the inference of why he had it on him was an obvious one before jailing him for 18 months. A restraining order was also made.