A 38-year-old man who held down his then girlfriend telling her 'You are not leaving this house b**ch until you are dead’ during a vodka-fuelled assault has escaped jail.
Judge Francis Comerford at Ennis Circuit Court imposed a suspended sentence of two-years and six-months - or 30 month prison term - on Colin Curtis of Horseshoe Grove, Crusheen, Co Clare.
Mr Curtis pleaded guilty to assault causing harm and threatening to kill the woman on May 26th 2023 at an apartment on Parnell Street, Ennis.
In sentencing, Judge Comerford said that Mr Curtis had “terrorised” the woman during the one-hour ordeal on May 26th 2023 at her apartment in what was “a horrendous assault”.
Judge Comerford said that it was “a very bad assault” where the woman suffered a series of injuries though none were grievous.
The judge said that what occurred was an instance of domestic violence. He said that since initially hearing the facts of the case at Kilrush Circuit Court he has come around to a different way of thinking in the sentencing in the case.
Judge Comerford said that the mitigation features in the case touch the exceptional circumstances where the court can impose a wholly suspended sentence.
The judge said since the offence, Mr Curtis has done everything that could be anticipated by someone who wanted to mend their ways.
Judge Comerford said in reaching his decision he was not for a moment not conscious of the vulnerability of the victim.
He commented that “some people think getting a suspended sentence just means getting off completely".
“The superior courts have recognised that a suspended sentence is a sentence because at any stage if he breaches that or if Mr Curtis gets drunk or got involved in any alterations, then he will be serving the prison sentence in full."
After imposing the suspended prison term and Mr Curtis agreed to comply with all directions of the Probation Service for the next 12 months, Judge Comerford said: “We will see where that brings him.”
Judge Comerford said that Mr Curtis pleaded guilty, was disgusted by what he did, had shown remorse, is addressing his alcohol addiction, has got work and was in the throes of addiction at the time of the assault.
He said that no previous convictions of this type of offence.
Judge Comerford said that Mr Curtis has €4,500 in court for his victim.
The victim in the case was not in court for either day of the sentencing hearing and did not provide a victim impact statement.
On the night in question, she escaped the apartment by foot and ran down Abbey Street to the local Garda Station where she presented herself at 11.55pm on May 26th 2023 with bruises all over her body after the one-hour ordeal.
In her statement to gardaí, the woman said that during the assault, Mr Curtis held her to the floor and told her "You are not leaving this house bitch until you are dead".
Counsel for the State, Lorcan Connolly SC (instructed by State Solicitor, Aisling Casey) said that the woman described Mr Curtis punching her in the face and pulling her around the sitting room “like a rag doll”.
Mr Connolly told the court that the woman presented at the Garda station with numerous injuries to her head including a lump on her forehead and swelling on both sides of her jaw. Counsel said that the woman’s chin was bleeding while she also had marks on her neck, arms and fresh bruises on both of her legs.
In the court, counsel for Mr Curtis, Patrick Whyms BL (instructed by solicitor, Tara Godfrey) told the court that Mr Curtis wishes to apologise to the woman.
Mr Whyms said that from his current partner, she describes their relationship as loving and caring and confirms that Mr Curtis has stopped drinking and using drugs.
Counsel said that Mr Curtis was in a previous relationship with a woman from 2006 to 2018 and in her letter to court she said that there was never any violence within the relationship and the reason the relationship broke down was because of his drinking.
He also provided a character reference from Mr Curtis’s unnamed employer, a garage operator, in which he said the employer described Mr Curtis as friendly, polite "and always willing to go the extra mile".
Mr Whyms said that Mr Curtis moved to Ireland from the UK in 1999 and had lived in Dublin and Galway before moving to Co Clare.
