An Armagh man with a history of domestic violence and who physically beat up his partner has been put behind bars for five months.
Ernestas Jurevicius, 28, of Dukes Grove, Armagh, pleaded guilty at the city Magistrates’ on Tuesday to common assault, after punching and pushing the mother of his child.
Court heard that on December 18, last year, the injured party appeared at a police station claiming that her partner had attacked her at their Irish Street home around 2am the previous day.
She claimed that the defendant had pushed and punched, this resulted in cuts on her wrists, bruises to her right knee and a swollen head.
Defence Counsel, Paul Dougan, stated that there had been an “unequivocal plea from the start”, he told the court that Jurevicius had removed himself from the family home.
Dougan added that the defendant had not pushed to have contact with his children until a full “risk assessment had been carried out by social services”.
Court heard that Jurevicius had two previous relevant offences, “most notably” conceded the defence was in October 2015 which involved the same complainant but was much more serious.
The defence said that a pre-sentence report suggested that community service would be suitable in this case.
Dougan added that Jurevicius continued to make regular child maintenance and was currently in full-time employment at a door manufacturing business.
District Judge Paul Copeland stated that “the defence has made a comprehensive argument to mitigate the seriousness of this offence, but it is not enough”.
He continued by saying “the witness impact statement, the offence is a cruel and violent abuse and the record of hurt towards this young mother made only one punishment acceptable”.
Jurevicius was sentenced to five months in prison and ordered to pay £775 to the injured party as compensation.
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