Man jailed over ‘merciless and prolonged’ attack on pregnant woman

Martin Maughan (30) from Swords punched, kicked and used a flex to whip his former partner in February 2020

A man who subjected his pregnant former partner to a “merciless and prolonged” attack has been handed a 20-month prison sentence.

Martin Maughan (30), of Holywell Villas, Swords, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty to one count of assault causing harm and one count of criminal damage at an address in Santry on February 8th, 2020.

Imposing sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Friday, Judge Martin Nolan said Maughan subjected his victim, who was five months pregnant, to a “merciless and prolonged attack” which resulted in her sustaining soft tissue injuries to her arms, head and shoulder area.

He said Maughan must have known that the woman was pregnant, which was an aggravating factor.

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The court heard that Maughan had called to the home of his ex-partner and brought alcohol with him.

Verbal dispute

The woman did not want alcohol in the house and threw it out the back door. She asked Maughan to leave, but he took the keys and retrieved the alcohol. The two then got into a verbal dispute.

Later, the victim was in the spare room when Maughan entered and started kicking her legs and punching her. He grabbed a bedside lamp and used the cord to whip her arms, legs and shoulders.

Maughan told the woman that he would say she had hurt herself if gardaí came. The attack lasted for around one hour, during which Maughan also struck the woman with the plug of the lamp and hit her head against the wall.

The woman escaped the house when Maughan let her go downstairs to get water. While outside, she asked a security guard nearby to contact gardaí. The defendant went after the victim and dragged her back to the house, but left the scene when he heard gardaí were on the way.

Unfit for interview

Maughan was arrested nearby in an intoxicated state and was initially deemed unfit for interview. The woman went to hospital the next day.

In a section of her victim impact statement read to the court, the woman said she could not bring herself to think about what might have happened if she had not gotten out of the house.

Maughan has 26 previous convictions, including 11 public order offences and six for road traffic matters. The investigating garda agreed with his defence counsel that Maughan has an issue with alcohol and did not cause any difficulties when arrested. The court heard Maughan had apologised and accepted the seriousness of this incident.

Judge Nolan said he would consider Maughan’s guilty plea, and expression of remorse among the mitigating factors. He said Maughan the defendant’s previous convictions for public order offences showed Maughan and alcohol “should not mix”.