Man gets 40-month jail term after attack on pregnant partner

Man gets 40-month jail term after attack on pregnant partner

15 May 2019

A MAN who attacked his heavily pregnant former partner in her Newcastle home has been jailed at Downpatrick Crown Court.

Daniel Gibney (36) was jailed for a total of three years and four months by Judge Piers Grant, who said it was a case of “serious domestic abuse”.

Gibney, who had pleaded guilty to charges of assault and criminal damage, will serve half the sentence in custody, with the remainder being served on licence.

Passing sentence last Wednesday, Judge Grant said it was an attack on a “very vulnerable individual”.

Gibney, of Baltic Avenue, Belfast, attacked the woman, who is registered blind, and then spat on her eight year-old daughter in the early hours of April 8 last year.

The court heard that Gibney, who was drunk, had been in a row with the woman a short time earlier, after which he left the house and the woman told him not to come back.

At around 5am, the woman heard Gibney banging on the back door. He demanded to be allowed back inside and told the woman to order a taxi for him.

Once inside the house he punched the woman in the face and hit over the head with a beer bottle.

He grabbed her hair, threw her to the ground and kicked her in the tailbone.

The terrified woman ran to her daughter’s bedroom and tried to barricade herself inside.

However, Gibney got into the room and spat on the woman and the young child as they tried to hide under the bed covers.

He then broke the child’s playstation and destroyed several items, including nappies and a moses basket which had been bought for the unborn child.

The court was told that the woman, who was 38 weeks pregnant at the time, went into premature labour hours after the attack and gave birth to a baby boy the following day.

Judge Grant said he was obliged to impose a “significant custodial sentence”.

He remarked that Gibney had previous convictions for offences of a  violent nature and was serving a suspended sentence.

He said giving birth should have been a “happy moment” for the woman, but she was “robbed” of that by Gibney.

He said the incident had a “substantial effect” on the woman and that her daughter must have been put in “terrible fear”.

Judge Grant said it was also quite clear that Gibney had “trashed the house to a considerable degree”.

He commented: “Violence in front of children has a long term effect.”

The judge acknowledged that Gibney came from a “poor background”, had little education and “never had the benefit of structured employment”. He had also abused alcohol and drugs since the age of 12.

Gibney was sentenced to three years in jail for assaulting the woman and was given concurrent one-year sentences for assaulting the child and causing criminal damage. A four-month suspended sentence was activated and will be served consecutively.