A man who violently attacked a woman in her own home in north Dublin, leaving her with a fractured eye socket and three missing teeth, has been imprisoned for a year.
John Ndungu (42), of Boyne View, Johnston, Co Meath, appeared before Judge Martina Baxter in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Wednesday having pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to a woman in her home in Balbriggan on June 21st, 2020.
Garda Keith Coleman said that at approximately 7.30pm on the night in question, he was on mobile patrol with a colleague when he was called to the woman’s address.
The court heard that Ndungu had called the woman the day before and told her he was outside her house. The woman thought he sounded drunk over the phone and did not want him to drive home, so let him stay the night.
The following morning, Ndungu began drinking whiskey from 10am.
The woman and Ndungu left to buy groceries, returning at about 2.30pm when they started drinking together.
Gda Coleman told the court there were phone calls made by the injured party to family members that evening. Following one of these calls, a verbal altercation began between her and Ndungu.
The woman told gardaí that at this stage, Ndungu was very drunk. She asked him to leave, but he refused and a shouting match ensued.
Assault
Ndungu then grabbed her in a chokehold, pulled her onto the couch and punched her four times with a closed fist.
The court heard that when she saw blood on the couch, the woman knew she had to defend herself. She elbowed Ndungu in the genital area and tried unsuccessfully to get her phone.
The woman began to throw items at Ndungu, and he grabbed her in a chokehold again, punching her twice more.
The injured party saw one of her teeth fall out, the court heard.
The woman called for help and managed to escape Ndungu's grasp.
When she reached the hallway, she picked up a phone and informed Ndungu she was calling the gardaí and he left the house.
When gardaí arrived, an ambulance was called and the woman was brought to Beaumont Hospital for treatment.
A scan revealed she had lost two teeth and fractured both her eye socket and cheekbone.
Subsequent dental treatment resulted in the loss of a third tooth, which was loose following the attack.
The cost of treatment for her injuries totalled approximately €4,000, the court heard.
Ngundu was arrested by gardaí on June 29th, 2020, and during interview, he denied attacking the woman and said he was horrified to hear what had happened.
He initially gave a different version of what had happened, but this account was proven to be false.
Ngundu pleaded guilty to the charges on his trial date last May.
Scarred
In a victim impact statement read on Wednesday, the woman thanked the judge for giving her the opportunity to speak.
She then addressed Ndungu: “You were my close friend for a long time, but I didn’t know that underneath the sheep, you were a wolf.”
She told the court Ndungu “brought fear into a life that never had any” and how his actions “were physical, but it has also left me emotionally scarred.”
The woman said: “I’m here now, and can face you, but back then you became a shadow in the day and night” who “brought fear, mistrust and seclusion” into her life.
Both parties had been part of a Kenyan community in the country.
The injured party said Ngundu turned her into a liar to her family and friends, but that he “chose the wrong continent to practice stupid masculinity”.
Judge Baxter thanked the woman for her statement and said: “You’re a very brave woman, and thank you for coming today.”
Patrick Jackson BL, defending, said Ngundu apologised for his actions and “knows he’s completely wrong”.
He said Ngundu had been placed at low risk of reoffending, adding: “This offence was very much out of character when compared to his previous history.”
Ngundu has eight previous convictions for traffic and public order offences.
In sentencing, Judge Baxter said the aggravating factors were that the attack occurred in the injured party’s home, that she had offered Ndungu shelter and support, that they had been friends for almost twenty years and that “no compassion was present.”
She said the mitigating factors were that Ndungu had pleaded guilty, though at a late stage, that he had not been convicted for similar offences and he has a history of working.
Judge Baxter handed down a sentence of 30 months in prison, with the final 18 months suspended on the condition that Ngundu be of good behaviour and engage with Probation Services upon release.
