A man who was on bail for assaulting his then partner when he broke into her home and again attacked her during a "frenzied outburst", will serve an extra year in prison after a successful appeal by the State.
Gerald McQuillan had earlier grabbed the steering wheel of his then partner's car, causing it to spin across lanes of traffic.
In her impact statement, the victim told the court that in the days that followed the attack, she could only think: "What if he killed us both?"
McQuillan, who has 79 previous convictions, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to counts of endangerment, assault, criminal damage and trespass on January 5th, 2021.
The 37-year-old, with an address at Grattan Wood, Dublin 13, was on bail for similar offences related to the same victim at the time of the offending.
In September 2022, he was convicted of assault causing harm and two counts of criminal damage and was handed a three-year prison sentence with a final six months suspended.
At the Court of Appeal on Friday, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said the original 18-month sentence imposed by Circuit Court Judge James O'Donohue on April 30th, 2024 was “simply too low” and constituted a “substantial departure” from the norm.
Quashing the original sentence, Ms Justice Kennedy set a headline sentence of five years before imposing a sentence of three and a half years with the final twelve months suspended.
Sentencing McQuillan last April, Judge O'Donohue described the incident as a “very bad assault” which had a considerable effect on the victim, leaving her “fearful” and “traumatised”.
The judge imposed a jail term of one year and six months on the count of endangerment, to run consecutively to the sentence McQuillan was already serving at the time.
He noted that the man had already served six months in relation to this case and directed that the accused be given credit for this with the remaining charges taken into consideration.
An investigating garda told a previous hearing that on the day in question the victim and McQuillan were at a local supermarket running errands.
When they returned to the car there was a “verbal argument that “got heated” and McQuillan punched the visor and windshield, causing €1,676 worth of damage.
The woman asked him to leave and when he refused, she said she would drive him to a local garda station if he did not get out of the vehicle. While she was driving, McQuillan pulled the car's steering wheel causing the car to spin across lanes of traffic.
The victim told gardaí that her “legs and arms went to jelly at that point.” Paramedics driving by observed the car, which was then stationary, but blocking two lanes.
Later that night, McQuillan jumped over a back wall and entered the woman’s house before grabbing her by the side of the face and pushing her to the ground.
The court heard he then called her “a slut”, “a manipulative bitch” and “the worst mother in the world”. McQuillan told the victim it was her fault that the incident happened, because she had changed the password to her phone, which made him paranoid.
In her impact statement, the victim described the consequences of that day. “I don't trust men, aside from my family,” she said, adding: “I wake up at night panicking that someone is in the house.”
The victim said she suffers from PTSD and flashbacks that cause her to go into panic attacks. She continued: “In the days that followed, I could only think: what if he killed us both?”
Quashing the original sentence, Ms Justice Kennedy said this had been a very serious incident which occurred while the respondent was on bail and the endangerment offence had put both his then partner and other road users at risk.
Proceeding to resentence McQuillan, Ms Justice Kennedy nominated a headline sentence of five years for the count of endangerment. Taking mitigating factors into account, she imposed a sentence of four years before reducing this to one of three and a half years having regard to the principle of totality.
She said the court would suspend the final 12 months of the sentence to incentivise rehabilitation, leaving a final sentence of two and a half years to run consecutive to the sentence already imposed and with credit given for the time already served on this matter.
