The Court of Appeal has increased the sentence imposed on a man who seriously assaulted his partner while a safety order was in force, after the Director of Public Prosecutions successfully argued that the original 12-month term was unduly lenient.
The respondent, identified as M.A., had pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to his partner, RM. The attack occurred shortly after midnight on 5 January 2014 after she returned home from Kingscourt.
The court recorded that M.A. pulled RM by the hair into a bedroom and repeatedly kicked her, including in the head, while wearing steel-toecap work boots. He also grabbed her around the neck, lifted her so that her head struck the ceiling and threw her to the ground. RM suffered a fractured left tibia and fibula, multiple lacerations and bruising. She was left on the bedroom floor for about four hours.
Her 11-year-old son cycled about a mile and a half along country roads in the early hours to Pizza Point on Main Street, Kingscourt, where he asked to call 999. Gardaí subsequently attended and M.A. was arrested.
The assault occurred while a three-year safety order prohibited M.A. from using or threatening violence against RM. The judgment also records that RM initially withdrew her complaint in June 2014 but later told Gardaí that M.A. had brought her to the station and that she had acted because she was afraid and intimidated.
The Court of Appeal held that the circumstances warranted a substantially higher sentence. It identified four years as the appropriate starting point, citing the severity of the assault, its impact on RM and the children, the child's journey for help and the attempt to have the complaint withdrawn.
Taking account of the guilty plea, remorse and the needs of M.A.'s younger children, the court suspended the final 16 months for two years after release, conditional on him keeping the peace and being of good behaviour.