A Derry man has been jailed for assaulting and threatening to throw his partner down a flight of stairs.
Brian McDonagh, 42, of Winchester Park, admitted the common assault of a female on February 26 of this year and threatening to kill the same woman on February 28.
A Public Prosecution Service (PPS) representative said that at 7.40pm on February 16 police were called to an address in the city to deal with an ‘ongoing domestic incident’. Officers spoke to the injured party who confirmed the defendant had ‘started an argument’.
The Public Prosecutor said the victim was ‘pinned to the sofa’ then ‘grabbed by the hair’ and dragged to the stairs which he threatened to throw her down. In self-defence she ‘grabbed him by the crotch’, left the flat and phoned the PSNI.
The court was told that a ‘clump’ of the victim’s hair was pulled out during the incident.
Two days later at 7.20am police received a report from the same injured party stating she had received threatening voicemails and phone calls from her partner - the defendant. In total seven voicemails were left and five phone calls made. In one voicemail McDonagh said: “I will murder you, I will kick you stone dead’.
During police interview the 42-year-old admitted consuming alcohol but said he couldn’t remember contacting her and it wouldn’t have been done with any intent.
Representing McDonagh, defence barrister Eoghan Devlin said his client ‘accepts he will be going in to custody’ and had instructed that if he was offered a period on probation he wouldn’t complete it ‘due to his difficulties’. The court heard McDonagh accepts the seriousness of what he did and realises he ‘should be punished’.
Suspended sentences were in place and Mr Devlin said the 42-year-old was content for those to be activated. He did however ask District Judge Barney McElholm to adopt the principle of totality.
A four months suspended sentence from October 4, 2017, was activated and two months added for the assault to run consecutively. Four months were also imposed for the threat to kill to run concurrently, bringing his total to six months in prison.
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