A man who cut and threatened his wife with a bread knife in front of their disabled daughter has been jailed at Derry Magistrate’s Court.
Noel Wylie, 49, of Broighter Court, pleaded guilty to two counts of common assault, twice making threats to kill and assaulting police on April 9 of this year.
A Public Prosecution Service (PPS) representative said the defendant had been drinking all day when he charged towards his wife with the bread knife shouting ‘we will all be together’.
She believed this was a threat to kill his wife, daughter and then himself.
The court heard that Wylie caused a laceration to his wife’s neck with the knife, before she pushed him back and ran to phone the police.
While she was on the phone, the defendant said ‘you better not be phoning the police’ with his fist raised and the woman believed he was ‘going to strike her again’, the Public Prosecutor explained.
She added that the assault took place in the presence of Wylie’s severely disabled daughter, who is an adult but has the mental capacity of a one-year-old.
The court was told that Wylie also assaulted a police officer.
Representing the 49-year-old, defence barrister Stephen Chapman said his client realises the offences are serious and he has ‘a price to pay for it’. “He doesn’t seek to blame anyone but himself.”
But Mr Chapman told the court that the victim had withdrawn her statement about the incident, had visited her husband in prison ‘on a number of occasions’ and was in court.
Mr Chapman said he believed the ‘parties had reconciled’ and his client would be returning to the family home once he’s released from prison.
Imposing a six months prison sentence, District Judge Barney McElholm said this was a ‘very serious case involving the use of a weapon and threats, which in that context is very serious’.
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