A man who subjected his ex-partner to a violent assault in front of her children after she decided to end their relationship has been jailed for 18 months.
David Dwyer (37) bit his partner's finger when she was trying to close a window having locked him out of her home. She eventually let Dwyer back into the house after he continued to be abusive.
She unlocked the door and he grabbed her and threw her out onto the path in front of the house. She got up and went back in and told him to leave. The woman later told gardaí it was at this point that Dwyer “lost the head”.
He punched her multiple times in the head and face leaving her with a bump on her head and a bloodied nose. He continued to kick her and hit her while she tried to get away.
Insp Oliver Woods told Kate Egan BL, prosecuting, that he had been to the woman's house an hour before Dwyer attacked her after he was alerted to a domestic incident there.
On arrival he could hear raised voices. The woman answered the door but she insisted Dwyer was not in the house. It later transpired he was hiding in a child’s wardrobe when the inspector came into the property.
Insp Woods said the woman’s two children, aged 15 and 10, were there at the time. He spent 40 minutes with them before he left after advising that he would call back again. He told Ms Egan that 15 minutes later he got a call to come back to the woman’s home. When he arrived, Dwyer was still attacking the woman.
Resisted arrest
Gardaí tried to arrest him but he resisted, insulted the gardaí and spat at them. Officers eventually handcuffed Dwyer and had to put a spit hood on him to protect themselves against Covid-19.
Insp Woods said the woman was left with scrapes and cuts to her arm, a bump to her head and a busted nose but nothing was broken. She didn’t get medical attention.
Dwyer was on bail for four other offences at the time of his arrest including criminal damage, trespass and drink driving. The woman did not complete a victim impact statement for the case.
Dwyer, of Primrose Grove, Darndale, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, to assaulting the woman causing her harm and failing to comply with directions given by Insp Woods at Edenmore, Raheny on May 2nd, 2020.
Judge Melanie Greally described the attack on Dwyer's former partner as "a violent incident".
She acknowledged that the couple had what was described as a “volatile relationship” and Dwyer was drunk, but said this was no excuse for subjecting the woman to the assault particularly in the presence of her children.
She sentenced Dwyer to 18 months in prison, which she backdated to May 4th last, when he was remanded in custody having pleaded guilty to the assault charge.
Jennifer Jackson BL, defending, said her client has “very little re-collection of the night” and asked the court to accept that it happened in the middle of a lockdown when “life was not normal”.