Actor avoids jail over assault

Actor David Murray has been spared a jail sentence after he was convicted of attacking his former partner, who accused him of hitting and strangling her during a domestic row.

Murray, 45, played the late minister for finance Brian Lenihan in the film The Guarantee and starred in the hit TV series Amber, which aired on RTÉ and the BBC.

He was fined €500 yesterday after he was convicted of assaulting Jessie Mulligan at her former home, a studio apartment, in Grosvenor Square, in Rathmines, south Dublin, in the early hours of October 5, 2013.

The Cork-born actor had denied the charge, but was found guilty following a hearing at Dublin District Court. Judge Hugh O’Donnell held that photos of scratch marks on Ms Mulligan’s neck confirmed her account.

Murray, who lives on the South Circular Rd in Dublin, claimed he had a struggle with her to retrieve his phone when she went “berserk” during a row about texts to an ex-girlfriend.

The actor, who has also appeared in a Dublin Airport Authority advert for Terminal 2 and has been made a member of the Irish Film Academy faculty, plans to appeal the verdict.

Ms Mulligan, 41, said she thought Murray would kill her when he grabbed her throat, hit her in the face twice, and had his knee on her chest. She also claimed it was an abusive relationship and Murray manipulated her and had isolated her from her friends and family. She also said she had moved home to get away from him.

Judge O’Donnell did not accept defence arguments that Murray had used reasonable force in the struggle to get his phone back.

He told him he must pay the fine within a year otherwise he would be jailed for 14 days.

Murray later lodged papers to appeal the case.