By Declan Brennan
A man who beat his girlfriend around the head with a stone and kicked her in the face has been jailed for one year and eight months.
Christopher Strickland (37) kicked the woman’s face with force after he had knocked her to the ground, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.
Eyewitnesses to the late night assault heard Strickland calling the woman names and saying “I’m going to fucking kill you”.
Strickland of Sundrive Road, Crumlin, Dublin 12 pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to the woman on Kimmage Road, Lower Kimmage on March 3, 2019.
Detective Garda Jason O’Carroll told Liam Dockery BL, prosecuting, that gardai arriving at the scene found a woman with blood on her head and lip and swelling on her face.
Witnesses told gardai that the attacker had punched and kicked the victim in rapid succession around the face and torso.
She was on the ground when he kicked her in the face.
An off duty garda passing in a taxi followed the attacker as he left the scene and identified him to gardai.
Strickland had blood on him and told gardai he had assaulted his girlfriend and he was glad he did it and that she deserved it.
Dt Gda O’Carroll agreed with defending counsel Keith Spencer BL that Strickland was given “misinformation” that the victim might have been pregnant and “he lost it”.
The court heard the victim has since died from an unrelated illness.
Strickland’s 99 previous convictions include assault, theft and drug dealing.
Mr Spencer said his client had a long history of substance abuse but has been clean since going into custody.
The garda witness agreed with Mr Spencer that his client and the woman were in a relationship built around substance abuse, in her case alcohol.
He also accepted that Strickland later told gardai he couldn’t remember anything about the night or the attack and couldn’t explain the cuts on his hands.
In a statement the victim’s mother said that after the attack her daughter’s eyes and face “were in bits” and her blonde hair was “red with blood”.
Judge Fiona O’Sullivan said this was a violent and sustained attack on a “very vulnerable” woman.
She said that Strickland’s life has been blighted by heroin addiction and that he has taken steps towards rehabilitation.
She said the other mitigatory factors were his plea of guilty and his expressions of remorse which she accepted as genuine.
Taking these into consideration, she imposed a sentence of two and a half years.
She suspended the final ten months to support Strickland’s efforts at drug rehabilitation.
The suspension is on condition that he keep the peace and engage with the Probation Service for 12 months after his release.