A man who left obscene and threatening messages on his ex-girlfriend's phone before beating her up believed he was still in love with her at the time, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court has heard.
Adam Shiels (aged 20) of Woodstown Abbey, Knocklyon, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Kirsty Nealon on Halloween night last year.
He received a two-year suspended sentence after also pleading guilty to sending obscene and threatening messages on her mobile phone and to criminal damage of her car.
In one voice message, left on October 26 last, he said: “I'm going to terrorise you...I don't have anything more to do in my life.”
The court heard that the couple had met in school and had been dating for over two years when the relationship broke down.
Garda Gearoid O'Brien told Ms Anne-Marie Lawlor BL, prosecuting, that on the night of October 31 the victim bumped into her ex-boyfriend while they were both out at a night club.
Shiels told Ms Nealon that he still loved her and asked if they could get back together.
Mr Ronan Prendergast BL, defending, said Ms Nealon told Shiels she didn't care and said “goodbye”.
Later that night Shiels, who had taken alcohol and drugs, followed her as she left the club and begged her to come home with him.
When she refused, Shiels threatened her and grabbed her by the wrists to try pull her out of a taxi.
He then jumped into the taxi with her and started “viciously” punching her in the head. The victim received “20 full-force punches to the head”, fracturing her cheekbone.
Following this, Shiels was charged with assault causing harm to Ms Nealon but on February 8 last he approached her at Glenmare Park, Rathfarnham.
When she said she didn't want to speak to him he started kicking and head-butting his own car.
He then went over to her car and put his hands into a gap in the window and tried to push the window down.
He threatened to smash the windscreen of the car and then pulled the wing mirror off the door.
Shiels told Ms Nealon: “You can have them back when you talk to me”.
Mr Prendergast said that after the second attack Shiels admitted himself voluntarily into St James hospital after he had made an attempt on his life.
The court heard that Shiels was assessed at St John of God hospital at the age of four and as a teenager he was prescribed Ritalin.
Mr Prendergast said that his client’s brother and a friend had both died separately in tragic circumstances before the assault and that he had lost control after the break-up of his relationship with Ms Nealon.
Mr Prendergast said: “He was bereft. He was on narcotics and had taken drink. He lost all control and snapped”.
The court heard that Shiels was previously caught with drugs at the 2010 Oxegen music festival and charged with possession.
Judge Martin Nolan said Sheils suffered from “gross immaturity” and asked if he was “over his unfortunate girlfriend”.
The judge: “He could not accept she had broken off with him and he reacted in an immature and violent way. He behaved totally inappropriately”.
He sentenced Shiels to two years imprisonment for the assault and a one year concurrent term for the obscene phone calls and the malicious damage but suspended the entire term.
He further ordered Sheils not to go near or interact “either directly or indirectly” with Ms Nealon
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