Judge calls for early deportation

A Sri Lankan national who seriously assaulted his former girlfriend in Drumcondra, Dublin, has been jailed for four years with…

A Sri Lankan national who seriously assaulted his former girlfriend in Drumcondra, Dublin, has been jailed for four years with "the strongest possible recommendation" that he be deported as soon as possible.

Judge Patrick McCartan described Ashoka Priyantha as a menace and a threat to society. He wanted him deported, "the sooner the better".

Priyantha was convicted last month by a jury after a one-day trial in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of assault causing harm to the woman on October 15th, 1998.

The jury heard how Priyantha pulled his victim by the hair up Millbourne Avenue and then knocked her head off the pavement a number of times while kicking and punching her.

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