Local man jailed for assaulting his partner on street and in the shower

A local man who assaulted his partner causing her harm has been jailed by Judge Cormac Quinn at Nenagh Circuit Criminal Court.

Thomas Collins, 35, of 29 Ayr Hill Court, Roscrea, pleaded to two counts of assault causing harm at Convent Hill, Roscrea, and Ayr Hill on February 2, 2022.

Garda Michael Hennessy told the court that the gardaí responded to a call about a disturbance at Convent Hill and when they went there they came across three young teenage girls in their pyjamas and in a distressed condition. They directed them to a house at Ayr Hill Court.

When they arrived at the house the door was answered by Mr Collins who looked like he had been woken up.

He was asked if there was a female in distress in the house and he told the gardaí to “f*** off”.

Additional gardaí were sent for and Mr Collins answered the door again but this time he was standing over a female and was answering for her.

She tried to run towards the gardaí but he pulled her back.

He pulled the female back into the house and again slammed the door, Garda Hennessy said.

The female had a wound to the head and her hair was wet.

Mr Collins was highly aggressive and resisted arrest violently, said the garda.

The female made a subsequent statement in which she said that they had been in a pub in Roscrea and Mr Collins had got involved in an altercation with others.

On the way home, he had blamed her and assaulted her at Convent Hill by hitting her to the back of the head and kicking her.

She went to the house and Mr Collins had come into the bedroom and dragged her to the bathroom where he put her in the shower and turned it on while she was fully clothed. He then dragged her out of the shower.

As a result, the injured party had a cut to the head, bruising to her chest, arms and back and had to be brought to Portlaoise Hospital where she had six staples inserted in her head.

Mr Collins was arrested and charged with assault causing harm.

The court heard that there had been a minor in the house at the time and they had also been assaulted.

Garda Hennessy outlined to the court that Mr Collins had 11 previous convictions, the majority for breaches of the Domestic Violence Act, and one for assault.

Garda Hennessy agreed with Suzanne Gorey, BL, for Mr Collins that the incident had started on the way home from the pub.

Garda Hennessy told Ms Gorey that Mr Collins had made an “apology of sorts” but maintained he didn’t recall what had happened.

In her victim impact evidence to the court, the woman said that her life had changed forever on February 2, 2022, and the effect of the assault was “unimaginable”.

She said that she was now nervous all the time and suffered nightmares.

“I dream that it is not over,” she said.

The woman said that she now felt "weak, vulnerable and extremely fragile" because of what had happened and was “constantly on edge”.

She had been left “beaten, broken and sore”, she said.

“I have scars on my head and emotional scars that I will carry for the rest of my life,” she said.

The woman thanked those who had rang the gardaí on the night in question.

Ms Gorey, in mitigation, told the court Mr Collins had drunk a “considerable amount of alcohol” that night and had also been on medication.

She said he had taken steps in the past to deal with his history of violence and had expressed “genuine remorse”.

Judge Quinn said that the aggravating factors were it was an unprovoked assault and previous convictions were relevant in this case.

In mitigation, he said there had been an early plea, Mr Collins was bipolar and had taken alcohol and medication and had made an apology.

He jailed Mr Collins for a total of four years on each count, but suspended the final 12 months of each sentence on condition Mr Collins enter a bond of €200 to keep the peace on his release and engage with the probation services for 12 months.

He was also to have no contact with the injured party by any means.

The sentence was backdated to February 6, 2022, when Mr Collins was taken into custody

The charges of assault against the minor were taken into account.

The minor said in a victim impact statement that was read by Garda Hennessy that she had had to listen to the screams for help and had needed therapy.

She had tried to take her own life.

“I don’t think I’ll ever touch a man of a boy,” she said.