Man who punched girlfriend in face 30-40 times jailed for five years

A former drug addict who punched his former girlfriend "30 to 40 times" in the face because he believed she was texting another man has been given a five-year sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Paul Doyle (aged 33), who has 69 previous convictions, was on bail for robbing a homeless man at the time.

The woman, who lost her front teeth and sustained facial injuries including a broken eye socket, outlined in her victim impact statement that she suffered a nervous breakdown following the attack and continues to require psychiatric care. She is no longer able to care for her children who are now in the care of relatives.

She said in the report, which was read to the court, that she moved home to avoid Doyle and had lost all confidence. She requires on going dental treatment and had a metal plate inserted in her eye socket.

Doyle, with an address at Whitworth Road, Drumcondra, pleaded guilty to assaulting his former girlfriend at her then home on October 28, 2007 and to robbery of a camera at Parnell Square East on August 8, 2006.

Judge Katherine Delahunt said the assault had "devastating effects" on Doyle's victim but noted he was attempting to rehabilitate himself and was being treated for an underlying psychiatric condition.

Judge Delahunt imposed a five year sentence but suspended the final 18 months on strict conditions.

Garda Brian Murphy told Ms Cathleen Noctor BL, prosecuting, that Doyle was watching TV with his then girlfriend when he began asking her if she had been texting another man while he was out at the shops.

The woman told gardai that Doyle suddenly punched her in the side of the face. He then got up and stood in front of her punching her "30 to 40 times" in the face with clenched fists. She said when he stopped she realised she was bleeding from the face and nose and two of her front teeth had been knocked out.

She said she spat out her teeth into her hand and went upstairs to look at herself in the mirror. She fell unconscious and when she came around Doyle was slapping her in the face to revive her.

The woman said she went to lie down and Doyle pulled a hammer out from beneath the bed. Doyle got into the bed beside her with the hammer in his hand. She said she was "roaring crying" and feared for her life but eventually fell asleep.

She told gardai that the following morning Doyle followed her downstairs carrying the hammer. Doyle told her she deserved what she got and she had made him do it. She seized an opportunity and ran out of the house.

Gda Murphy said she encountered some people she knew and they alerted the gardai. He said the woman had visible facial injuries and named Doyle, who was standing across the road, as her attacker.

Doyle was arrested and the woman was treated in hospital for her injuries.

Garda Padraig Lynch told Ms Noctor that a year earlier Doyle held a blade to the face and neck of a homeless man, who was waiting on a "night bus" to a hostel, and took a camera from him believing it to be a phone.

Ms Martina Baxter said Doyle suffered from an "underlying psychiatric condition" which had been recently diagnosed and he was on appropriate medication. She said his mental condition had been exacerbated by drug and alcohol use but he was now rehabilitating himself to the best of his ability.

She said he had been "effectively institutionalised" since the age of 13 when he accrued his first conviction and spent most of his life in custody.