Thug abused girlfriend and demanded she call him 'Dominus' - meaning 'master' - after Spartacus character

Michael Quinn, 25, broke his girlfriend’s cheekbone by elbowing her in the face and hit her hand with a baseball bat breaking her finger

Michael Quinn has been jailed for five years for abusing his girlfriendgirlfriend and forced her to call him Dominus after the slavemaster in TV drama Spartacus.

Michael Quinn, 25, broke his partner's cheekbone by elbowing her in the face.

He also broke her ring finger when he hit her hand with a baseball bat, reports the Liverpool Echo.

Quinn demanded his victim called him Dominus, the Latin word for 'master'.

The word is recognised in popular culture as an alternative name for the slavemaster Batiatus - a character in Spartacus, a TV show set during the Roman Empire.

Liverpool Crown Court heard how even forced the woman to accompany him to the toilet on her hands and knees.

David Watson, prosecuting, said Quinn, of Tinsley Avenue, Southport, waged a “prolonged period of sustained domestic abuse” from 2012 to early 2015.

He said from the outset Quinn "sought to exercise control" and "destroy her self esteem".

Mr Watson said: "He told officers she wasn't good enough to be his girlfriend, only to cook and clean for him.

"He volunteered that he made her call him Dominus because he was in charge."

The court heard how on December 12, 2012, they started arguing and Quinn put his hands around her throat, “squeezed tightly” and slapped and kicked her.

She fled to the bathroom but he forced his way in and knocked her unconscious.


When she came round with a swollen left cheek he admitted he had elbowed her but took her mobile phone and forced her to stay indoors so she could not contact police.

The woman's mother reported her missing but when officers called she would not cooperate.

Two weeks later Quinn repeatedly punched her in the face and ribs as she lay in bed.

The victim escaped and fled to hospital where doctors discovered her cheekbone was broken.