Man (28) jailed for subjecting ex-partner to ‘serious’ and ‘persistent’ assault

A man who subjected his ex-partner to a “persistent” and “serious” attack over six years ago has been jailed.

Dean Synnott (28), of Wellmount Road, Finglas, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two counts of assault causing harm at the same address on October 14th, 2017.

An investigating garda told John Moher BL, prosecuting, that the victim had gone to Synnott’s home the night before. In the early hours of the morning, the victim brought Synnott, who appeared intoxicated, to bed and said she was going home.

When she went to leave his bedroom, he grabbed her and said she was not leaving. He then threw her on the bed and attempted to get on top of her, but she kicked him off. Synnott put his hand over her mouth, then punched her to the side of the head.

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The victim managed to get up, but Synnott pulled her to the ground. He then got on top of her and began to hit the back of her head. There were others in the house and the victim screamed for someone to call 999. Synnott told her she should not have screamed and “no one is going to help you”.

He then asked the woman what was wrong, opened the bedroom door and said he was not stopping her from leaving. While the victim was walking downstairs, Synnott grabbed her and again said she was not leaving.

He then pushed her down the stairs, got on top of her and wrapped one hand around her neck so she could not breathe. He hit her around 10 times in the face.

Cars drove past

After leaving the house, the victim started to run and was followed by Synnott, who grabbed and punched her. She managed to get up and started to walk towards Finglas, but Synnott pulled her towards the house. The victim ran into the road when a taxi drove past, but the driver did not stop when she screamed for help. Other cars also drove past.

Synnott told the woman that “no one is going to come over to you, you are wasting your time”. She agreed to his request to go back to the house and said she would stay outside.

When they got to the house, the woman ran and hid after Synnott went inside briefly. She heard Synnott shouting: “Silly little b***h, I’m going to kill you”.

She then called the gardaí and when they arrived, she again ran towards Finglas. A taxi driver saw her and dropped her to the garda station. Synnott told gardaí he and his girlfriend had a disagreement and she had left the house. They observed that he was intoxicated and left as the victim was not there.

The victim was later taken to Beaumont Hospital and a medical report was submitted to the court. She sustained a head injury and bruises to her body. Gardaí also observed red marks on her cheeks and a cut on her lips.

‘Comes flooding back’

A victim impact statement was read on the woman’s behalf by Mr Moher. The victim said she was concerned Synnott was going to kill her that night and said she suffers panic attacks each October when “it all comes flooding back”.

She said the incident affected her mental health and she has difficulty sleeping. She also expressed concern that other people did not offer her assistance during the attack.

The garda agreed with Aidan McCarthy BL, defending, that his client had no convictions at the time. The garda said he was not aware that the relationship continued for several months after this incident. Mr McCarthy offered a sincere apology from his client to the victim. He said Synnott was 22 at the time and has no memory of the event.

Judge Martin Nolan said there were “two stages to this attack”, that it was “persistent, determined” and would have been “very frightening” for the victim.

He handed Synnott a three year prison sentence, with the final year suspended on strict conditions. He said Synnott had “attacked this young lady in a serious way” and he “has to go to prison by reason of that behaviour, it’s too serious”.