Four years for stabbing pregnant woman

A man who stabbed his pregnant ex-partner in front of her infant daughter has been sentenced to four years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Dominic Duignan (aged 34) believed the woman, who is the mother of his two children, was having a relationship with his brother because he saw them walking together. He has 92 previous convictions and had been released from prison the day before the attack.

Duignan, of Amiens Street, Dublin 1 pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Marie Gatley at Wolfe Tone Park, Jervis Street on November 10, 2007.

Judge Patrick McCartan sentenced him to four years with the final two suspended for two years. He called it "an unashamed act of bullying and aggression on the mother of his two children."

He also criticised Duignan for waiting until the trial date to plead guilty in the hope that Ms Gatley would not testify against him.

Garda Gerard McCready told Karen O'Connor BL, prosecuting, that Ms Gatley was walking with Duignan's brother and pushing her daughter in a pram in the early afternoon.

Duignan was drinking on the street and spotted her, shouting insults.

She tried to calm him down and also pleaded with him not to scare the baby.

He responded by spitting in her face. She tried again to hug him but he reached behind his pack and produced a blade, stabbing her in the right shoulder.

She ran to a nearby shop and an ambulance was called. Gardaí arrested Duignan three days later on Jervis Street. He claimed in interview that he saw Ms Gatley involved in a fight and had gone to help her but Gda McCready said he did not accept this.

Ms Gatley was treated for a deep cut which required stitches and left a permanent scar. In her victim impact report she said she required counselling and antidepressants after the incident and her daughter was so traumatised she had to be taken into care.

Ms Gatley is a mother of eight children, six of whom have been taken into care. She had been in a relationship with Duignan since 2003 and fathered two of his children. She had taken a barring order against him which he had broken three times in the past but the pair continued an intermittent relationship.

His other convictions include drug dealing, criminal damage and burglary. Anne Marie Lawlor BL, defending, said he attacked the woman because he thought she and his brother were in a relationship.

She said he is a chronic alcoholic and heroin addict who suffers from Hepatitis C. He has been told by doctors that another drink could kill him, such is the damage to his liver.

Ms Lawlor said the pair had a "fractious relationship" due to drink and drugs and she presented a psychiatrist's report which stated he had shown genuine remorse for his actions.