A man who punched his partner six times in the face while drinking whiskey has been jailed for two years.
Valdecy Barroso appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court where he pleaded guilty to assault causing harm on June 7th, 2021.
Garda Gillian Page told the court that a child called the 999 emergency number and said her stepfather was hurting her mother.
A number of Gardai rushed to the scene and found a woman rushing towards them.
Vicki McMullan was visibly upset and distressed and had visible injuries to her face.
Ms McMullan said her partner, Valdecy Barroso, had been drinking in the house at Cappry, Ballybofey and was still in the house.
Gardai searched the house but Barroso was not inside although he was found in a field behind the house a short time later and was arrested.
The court was told the couple has been in a relationship for ten years and Ms McMullan had a six year old son with Mr Barroso at the time and another 13 year old daughter from a previous relationship.
On the day in question, Barraso was drinking whiskey and watching television when some aggravation occurred.
The court was told that the accused just ‘flipped’ and punched Ms McMullan in the face six times leaving her with a black eye and a groggy head which required her to attend the hospital.
Ms McMullan’s daughter tried to stand up to Barroso but he square up to her also before pushing Ms McMullan back onto the sofa.
Ms McMullan’s daughter managed to get out and call the Gardai as Borroso sat down and continued to watch the television.
The court was told that the accused has a similar conviction for a similar offence of assault causing harm and threatening to kill Ms McMullan and received a suspended sentence.
He was arrested and taken to Letterkenny Garda Station and admitted to the assault of June 7th, 2021.
Barrister for Barroso, Mr Peter Nolan said it appeared that alcohol was the triggering factor for his offences.
He said his client had not drank since but that on this occasion he had drank almost a bottle of whiskey and flipped.
He had not been drinking prior to this incident and that his drink appears to be a binge-type situation.
Mr Nolan claimed that even since this incident, Ms McMullan had been trying to assist Borroso and had contacted his solicitor Gallagher, Brennan and Ponsonby about his situation.
Barrister Mr Nolan said that his client still had access to his son during visits and that he was providing maintenance for his son who is now aged 8 years.
He is a skilled boner in a meat factory and is prepared to move out of Ballybofey altogether and move to Lifford for ease of Ms McMullan.
In an updated victim impact statement, read by Ms Patricia McLaughlin BL, Ms McMullen said Barroso is now blocked from calling her phone. She said she contacted the Probation Services once on Barroso’s behalf as they were ‘on good terms’ at the time and ‘there was no-one else’.
“This is my third victim impact statement and I have nothing more to say,” McMcMullen said.
Judge John Aylmer described the incident as ‘a very drunk assault where she was punched to the head six times in front of her children’.
“She suffered a fairly severe beating about the head with strenuous punches,” Judge Aylmer said, adding that a very aggravating feature of the case was Barroso’s previous conviction for an assault causing harm and a threat to kill to Ms McMullan, for which he received an 18-month suspended sentence in 2019.
Another aggravating factor was the fact that they were in an intimate relationship at the time.
Before considering mitigation, Judge Aylmer said the incident merited a starting point of three years imprisonment,
Judge Aylmer said Barroso has appeared to have abstained from alcohol since this binge, when he consumed a large amount of whiskey ‘which did not agree with him at all’.
“His problem is binge drinking,” Judge Aylmer said. “He went on a binge and this offence arose out of one such occasion.”
Barroso has since attended AA meetings and engaged with anger management counselling. Judge Aylmer noted that Barroso continues to be involved with the parenting of his son, but said this did not provide mitigation. Nor, Judge Aylmer added, was Ms McMullen’s assistance regarding Barroso getting an Irish driving licence.
“It is to her credit, but it does not improve his situation,” Judge Aylmer said. Barroso did, however, make an early guilty plea and had not come to adverse Garda attention since.
Nothing ‘in ease’ of Barroso emerged from the Probation and Welfare Service as the accused had not seen fit to engage despite having multiple appointments.
Judge Aylmer said he was doing ‘the best I can’ for Barroso in reducing the sentence to one of two years imprisonment.