Man who appeared at Longford Circuit Court receives suspended sentence for 'horrendous' Christmas Day beating

A man who brutally assaulted his former partner and mother of his child on Christmas Day has been handed a 20 month prison sentence, which has been suspended in full following the victim's plea to the judge not to jail her abuser.

Judge Kenneth Connolly, when handing down the sentence at Longford Circuit Court said it was “unusual” for him to suspend a sentence in full, but noted the man was employed, paying maintenance for his daughter and had come to no further adverse Garda attention.

When passing judgement, he said the accused had committed a “very serious” offence of section 3 assault causing harm, as well as a section 40 offence under the Domestic Violence Act.

“This was a very terrifying experience for the victim, her mother and a baby on Christmas Day 2022,” he said.

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The incident occurred on December 25, 2022, in the home when the accused had pushed the victim's mother aside.

The injured party thought her mother had been struck and stepped in to intervene when she herself became the victim of a “significant assault”.

The woman was dragged by her hair to the sitting room where she ended up on the floor with the accused’s knee on her chest as he began punching her face, pulling her clothes off and screaming abuse at her.

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At one stage, the judge noted, he had a kitchen knife in his hand but this was dropped.

The victim suffered “extensive injuries”, including bruising, cuts and abrasions to her arms and legs, two black eyes, abrasions to her back and extensive bruising to her face, including nose, cheeks and forehead.

The accused was “extremely intoxicated and crying” when he was arrested and conveyed to the Garda Station and his interview had to be suspended because of the level of intoxication.

The victim and her mother later withdrew their statements to Gardaí and the victim herself asked that the judge not put her former partner in prison as she had forgiven him and wanted him around for their daughter.

The accused has 38 previous convictions, a lot of which are for driving offences.

An aggravating factor in the case, according to Judge Connolly, was the severity of the assault on the victim who, “despite her magnanimous position before the court, suffered a horrendous beating in the context of an intimate relationship”.

“One is entitled to have security in all aspects of life, but particularly in the home,” he said.

He also noted that the accused was “highly intoxicated” and said it was an aggravating factor that “someone would allow themselves to become so intoxicated” that they would assault someone like this.

He said it would be “an injustice” to the victim to fix a headline sentence of anything less than two years and six months.

However, in light of the circumstances of the injured party's attitude in withdrawing the complaint, as well as a number of other mitigating factors such as the fact he has “completely rehabilitated himself”, he reduced the sentence to 20 months.

He noted the accused has an “excellent probation report” which stated he showed “appropriate empathy” and remorse for his wrongdoing.

In what was an “unusual” move for Judge Connolly, he suspended the sentence in full for three years subject to a number of conditions, including that he remain under the supervision of the probation office for one year, attend a one-to-one domestic violence programme, remain entirely drug and alcohol free for three years, and pay compensation of €6,000 to the victim.