Possible jail sentence for man who spat in face of ex-partner

A man is facing a possible prison sentence after he was found guilty of spitting in the face of his ex-partner.

Adrian Henry had denied the offence when interviewed by gardaí but was not present in court when the case was heard.

Mr Henry, with a previous address at 11 Woodfield, Curra Woods, Riverstick, Co Cork, is now in the UK, Bandon District Court was told.

The 44-year-old had been charged with a Section 2 assault on August 4, 2018, in Kinsale, Co Cork.

His ex-partner, Catriona Coleman, told Judge James McNulty that she and Mr Henry, from whom she is separated, have two children and their father sees them on Saturdays between 10am and 4pm.

Ms Coleman said Mr Henry’s attendance had been “inconsistent”, including a two-month spell in Jersey last summer.

The court heard he had returned to Ireland and on August 4, 2018, Ms Coleman and the children were at a pre-arranged pick-up point outside SuperValu in the town at 10am. She received a call at 10.05am from Mr Henry saying he would be an hour late.

She said Mr Henry arrived at 11.10am, by which time the children were upset. Ms Coleman said “I was upset myself” and that she told the children to stay in the car while she walked over to Mr Henry’s vehicle, telling him she wished he had never come back, to which he said nothing.

He then brought the children to his car, the court heard. Ms Coleman said: “He came over to my car and spat in my face as I was sitting in the car.”

She said the children did not see what had occurred and that Mr Henry had made no comment.

Garda Ricky O’Sullivan told the judge that Ms Coleman presented at Kinsale Garda Station afterwards and was extremely and visibly upset.

He sought CCTV footage from SuperValu but said the quality of it was poor.

He then made contact with Mr Henry who later made a cautioned statement which was read out in court.

In it, Mr Henry said his ex-wife had been giving him “dog’s abuse” and had been pulling at his car door. He told gardaí at that time that “I gave her the abuse she just gave me”, telling her someone else needed to do the drop-offs as when they met there was “nothing but aggro”.

He admitted his ex-partner “probably felt threatened” but told gardaí: “At no point did I threaten her. At no point did I spit at her.”

Judge McNulty said the prosecution had proven the case.

The court heard Mr Henry had a previous conviction for a public order offence and the judge convicted him in his absence but said he wanted to hear a plea of mitigation on his behalf before he imposed penalty.

He said the assault contained a number of aggravating factors which he said placed it in the area of a custodial sentence.

The case was adjourned for one month to allow Mr Henry or someone on his behalf to attend to provide mitigation.