A criminal with a history of violence assaulted his girlfriend over a prolonged period and held a blade to her throat before sending her threats from prison to drop the charges, a court has heard.
Patrick Byrne (28), formerly of Cooleven Close, Cloverhill Road, Dublin, has 44 convictions and was jailed for two years and nine months last November after he assaulted a man in the city centre with a bike saddle in an unprovoked attack.
He has four previous convictions for assault causing harm along with convictions for theft, domestic violence, drugs and threat to kill offences, Garda Natasha Martin told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Monday.
The court heard that Byrne assaulted his then partner several times over a two-day period in February 2024, whipping her with a broom handle, holding a Stanley blade to her throat and threatening to slit her throat, kicking and hitting her, smashing up the house and upending a wardrobe, causing a television to fall on her.
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He repeatedly told the woman he would kill her, screamed abuse at her, spat in her face and closed the blinds in the house so no one could see in.
The woman could not escape as Byrne had both sets of house keys and had locked the door. She eventually managed to escape when he fell asleep and she was able to get the keys.
She ran to a neighbour’s house, where an ambulance and gardaí were called. Byrne was arrested at a later date.
He pleaded guilty to one count of assault causing harm, one count of producing an article capable of inflicting serious injury – a broom handle – during the course of a dispute and one count of making a threat to kill at an address in Clondalkin. A number of other counts were taken into consideration. The offences occurred on dates between February 11th and 12th, 2024.
While in custody, Byrne started texting and phoning the woman from two different phone numbers. The court heard the texts started out in a loving nature, with talks of reconciliation, but then turned threatening after Byrne found out the woman had started a new relationship.
He urged the woman to drop the charges against him, calling her a “snake” and a “dirty rat”. “You drop them charges or you’re going to have a dirty scar for the rest of your life,” he texted her.
Byrne pleaded guilty to one count of threatening a witness in criminal proceedings on dates between April 11th and May 20th, 2024. The woman reported Byrne to gardaí in July 2024. There was no victim impact statement before the court.
Judge Pauline Codd observed that Byrne appeared to be “amused” by the text messages as they were read out in court, to which he replied: “No” from the dock.
Mark Lynam SC, defending, said Byrne started taking drugs from a young age and his life spiralled when he was a teenager after he discovered his biological father was a different person to the man he considered his father.
Mr Lynam said Byrne and the complainant were in a relationship for about two years and it was “toxic”, “chaotic” and “volatile” with both of them abusing drugs and alcohol. Byrne is remorseful and upset about his actions, his defence counsel said.
Byrne has a history of violence and is aware he “needs to get a handle on his behaviour”, Mr Lynam said. He asked the court to order a probation report to get a greater insight into how Byrne can make progress upon his eventual release from custody.
Judge Codd said Byrne “clearly has horrendous anger issues”, noting the level of violence he acted out on the woman.
She ordered urine analysis, a governor’s report and a probation report, and adjourned the matter for sentence on October 20th.
