Attacker twice jailed for assault on ex threatened her on day of release

A man convicted of assaulting his former partner on two occasions has been sentenced at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court following a breach of a protection order. John Paul Gantley, aged 35 and residing in Dublin, pleaded guilty to two counts of assault causing harm committed in May 2017. He received a three-year custodial sentence, with the final twelve months suspended. Upon his release from prison in November, Gantley contacted his former partner by telephone and text message, threatening violence and demanding to see their daughter, contrary to a court-ordered contact prohibition. He later appeared at her workplace in an intoxicated state and made further threats. In February, he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for breaching the protection order. At a subsequent hearing, the judge declined to activate the suspended portion of the original sentence, instead extending the suspension for a further two years with a renewed direction that Gantley have no contact with the injured party during that period.