A man who falsely imprisoned his ex-girlfriend and kicked her unconscious has been jailed for two years.
The 30-year-old woman woke up in her bed to find Robert Maguire (34) standing over her and spitting on her. He threatened to kill her before kicking her in the genitals and beating her into unconsciousness as her children screamed at the bedroom door.
Last March Maguire, of Colthurst Gardens, Hunting Glen, Lucan in Dublin pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to assault causing harm and false imprisonment in the woman's Dublin home on January 14, 2012.
Mr Justice Paul Butler described it as a violent attack on an entirely defenceless woman in front of her children.
He imposed a four year sentence on each offence to run concurrently. He suspended the last two years on condition Maguire keep the peace for that period. He also ordered that Maguire have no contact with the victim for that period.
During the sentence hearing last March the victim wept at the back of the court as Garda Mairead Scanlon gave details of the attack.
The court head how the victim was asleep in bed when she received “a bang” to the face and saw Maguire standing over her, spitting and shouting.
He hit her and pushed her back down on the bed when she tried to get up. He then kicked her in the side.
At this stage the woman’s baby, who was in a cot in the room, started crying and her older children were at the bedroom door screaming. The woman then realised Maguire had locked the bedroom door.
He wouldn’t let her go to the baby. Instead he picked the baby up from the cot, opened the door and gave her to the oldest son.
The woman was screaming for help or for someone to call gardaí when Maguire locked the bedroom door again and told her he was going to kill her “stone dead”. He then started kicking her until she went unconscious.
A next door neighbour had heard the screams and called gardaí but Maguire had fled by the time they arrived. The woman was taken to Tallaght Hospital but had to return the next day as the wait was too long.
She was treated for extensive cuts and bruising. Maguire was later arrested and admitted the assault.
The court heard Maguire has several previous convictions including one for theft for which he received 240 hours community service.
Michael O’Higgins SC, defending, said it was a “ferocious but brief” attack which must have been humiliating for the victim. He said Maguire was offering an “unequivocal apology” for his actions.
Mr O’Higgins said the motive for the attack was that Maguire had found out the woman was in a new relationship. He said it was a case of “sexual jealousy.”