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A “JILTED LOVER”, according to his lawyer, has had his prison sentence for assaulting his former partner suspended on appeal.
The 46-year-old man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to two counts of assault, harassment and theft at various locations in Dublin on dates between November and December 2009.
He was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment with the final two suspended by Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy on June 19, 2012. He was granted bail, pending an appeal, by the Court of Criminal Appeal the following month.
The man lost an appeal against his conviction yesterday but successfully submitted that his sentence was excessive. The Court of Appeal allowed his appeal and suspended any unserved portion of his sentence.
End of relationship
Giving background, Mr Justice Alan Mahon said the victim was a Mauritian woman who came to Ireland in 2008 and who had commenced a relationship with the man, also a Mauritian national, a short time afterwards.
She sought to end the relationship when she learned that his wife was soon to arrive in Ireland, Mr Justice Mahon said.
On learning that she had started a new relationship, the man turned up at her college and on two occasions followed her on a bus journey.
Mr Justice Mahon said the assaults were serious, involving beatings and slapping her on her head and face, using closed fists, a hair-straightener and a lamp.
It was quite a vicious assault on a defenceless woman who was lucky to have emerged with superficial injuries, the judge said.
He maintained through his barrister Padraig Dwyer SC, that the sentence imposed was excessive.
“Somewhat out of line”
Having regard to the fact that the judge was sentencing someone without relevant previous convictions, Mr Justice Mahon said the four year sentence appeared to be “somewhat out of line”.
To this limited extent, the judge said, it was an “error in principle”. The Director of Public Prosecutions had accepted that the sentences were severe, the judge said.
Mr Justice Mahon, who sat with Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan, said the court would suspend any unserved balance of the sentences already imposed.
Mr Justice Birmingham clarified that the suspended period commenced from yesterday’s date.
He had also been tried in respect of other offences in the Central Criminal Court but the jury disagreed on a verdict, the court heard.
“Jilted lover”
In his unsuccessful appeal against conviction heard yesterday, Mr Dwyer said the absence of telephone records didn’t allow the jury to objectively assess the level of contact he had with his former partner.
The extent of the activity reduced itself to the boarding of a bus on which his former partner was travelling, Mr Dwyer said.
Also on the bus was a person with whom she had developed a relationship, Mr Dwyer said. The injured party was disturbed by his presence. There was an altercation between the two men and “it’s fair to say”, Mr Dwyer said, “that he (his client) came out the worst”.
He boarded the bus on another occasion but there was no specific date in relation to that, counsel said.
Mr Dwyer said his client became particularly upset that she had established a new relationship.
During this period he contacted her by text and phone but there were no specific times or dates advanced just that he was texting her and that it was unwarranted.
He rang her mother, her sister, her ex-husband and her place of work, the court heard. She was working in a house looking after an elderly man at the time.
He was a “jilted lover”, Mr Dwyer said. Even if it caused annoyance or irritation, it wasn’t ” unnatural”, he said.
Dismissing his conviction appeal, Mr Justice Mahon said the court was satisfied that the jury were adequately charged in relation to the ingredients of the offence of harassment.
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I think the police and other authorities are more concerned about protecting tourism that facing facts. The parents say this girl never went anywhere alone. why won’t they listen to the parents who say its an abduction.
@Daithi Ó Raghallaigh: they’ve hundreds of people searching, sniffer dogs, divers, drones, helicopters, thermal imaging, they’ve interviewed everyone working at the resort and searched their homes and computers, they haven’t ruled out ‘criminal’ activity. What else would you suggest they do?
@EillieEs: exactly. They’re doing everything they can.
@Ronan McDermott: Malaysia’s culture is very different to Ireland and attitudes on the ground reflect that.
The downplaying of the abduction scenario is similar to what happened with MH370 (another incident that has gone unsolved). It’s very clearly Malaysia’s jurisdiction so outsiders have to respect international protocols but in western societies, multiple angles would be pursued with a view of covering all the possible scenarios. This doesn’t appear to be happening here. The narrative that Malaysian officials want out there is the one that she wandered off…
I actually see parallels of Irish history where locals would exclaim “oh! nothing like that could happen around here…” only for decades later, the proof to be laid bare by brave individuals.
@EillieEs: I imagine instead of insisting of wandering round the jungle near the hotel, they’d done what they’re doing now and looking at paedophile rings and actually treating it as an abduction instead of, as has been said, protecting tourism interests by denying that such a thing could happen and letting any trail that might have been there go cold. The horse has bolted.
I hope they find her soon safe and well
All of a sudden everyone became detective and scrutinising the search and rescue process! Hope she will reunite with her family soon!
@Jiho: I listened to the parents. She wouldn’t have wandered. There is zero reason not to believe them and accept she was abducted and go to the likely culprits in the city rather than waste a week searching the jungle.
People are heartbroken and distressed, alarmed at the frustrating process of the investigation and terrified that it has ruled out any hope of a return of Nora to her family – and we are wishing for what seems like an impossible happy ending to this awful, awful thing. We have not ‘suddenly become detectives’.
Poor girls. How long will it take to look at the fingerprints? Hopefully, they have searched properly through the resort itself. Being special needs means she could be hiding somewhere in the hotel itself. Aren’t there CCTV cams around the resort? Isn’t that like a standard thing now? Hoping she is found soonest.
@Arya: CCTV in a jungle lodge in Malaysia, unfortunately it would be unlikely.
Can’t understand why a reward wasn’t offered early on in the investigation just in case it was an abduction. Hope for all concerned she’s found safe and well. Any parent’s nightmare.
@nora boyle: absolutely sick and disgusting comment to make. Reported.
@nora boyle: Disgusting pig. I feel so sorry for anyone that has anything what so ever got to do with you
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