Man in 'complicated relationship' with married woman who he bit on the buttocks is jailed

Judge Gabbett said that he couldn’t suspend the prison term and had been considering a higher prison term than one month. File picture

A judge has imposed a one-month prison term on an intruder who bit the buttocks of a married woman during the course of a late night assault at her family home.

At Killaloe District Court sitting in Ennis, Judge Alec Gabbett imposed two concurrent one-month prison terms on Martin Gooney (27) of Riverview, Scariff, Co Clare for the assaults on the woman at an address in Whitegate, Co Clare on December 22, 2022.

Mr Gooney had pleaded guilty to two counts of assault against the woman and one count of trespass at her family home. Solicitor for Mr Gooney, Daragh Hassett asked Judge Gabbett that the sentences be suspended in the context of what he called “the complicated relationship” between Mr Gooney and the woman.

Mr Hassett said that the two had been in a brief relationship though he said that is denied by the married woman. In response, Judge Gabbett said that he couldn’t suspend the prison term and had been considering a higher prison term than one month.

He said: “It was a human bite and human bites are very serious.” He said that he viewed a photo which shows the bite mark on the buttocks. Judge Gabbett said that he was also taking into account the woman’s “powerful” victim impact statement handed into court.

Judge Gabbett told the court: 

This is what happens when you engage in complicated relationships, things get complicated. This is a complication of a complicated relationship. There is nothing I can do about that. 

Outlining the incident, Garda Aine Troy told the court that the assault incident at the woman’s home only ended after the woman screamed and this resulted in her eight-year-old son coming downstairs and Mr Gooney then leaving the house.

Garda Troy said that earlier Mr Gooney had tried to kiss the woman at her property where he was trespassing. Garda Troy said that the woman opened the back door to ask him what he was at and Mr Gooney pulled her by the wrist out the door.

Garda Troy said that the woman fell “and he bit her on the right buttocks cheek. She got back up and on entering the house he followed her and bit her on the right shoulder and pushed her against the dishwasher and press unit”.

Mr Hassett said that the guilty pleas were very valuable to the State and there had been a significant downgrading of charges in the case.

The solicitor said that the parties had a brief relationship and stated that Mr Gooney “was subsequently approached by the victim’s husband in a pub where he told him that in no uncertain terms that he had a relationship with his wife previously”.

He said: “It is not as if the parties were not known to each other. The victim may not accept that. I am instructed as a fact that it happened.” 

The boundaries were very much crossed on this night by Mr Gooney and his behaviour was unacceptable. There were certain signals that he thought he was getting where the two had a relationship before.

The solicitor said that his client “had to eventually block this lady on the phone after their brief encounter. It doesn’t explain or defend his actions on the night in question. He did trespass significant boundaries. He accepts that."

He added: “He is extremely remorseful for what happened. He wants to get on with his life. There is that important context to what happened — it is not a case where someone randomly walks into a house and tries it on."

Mr Hassett said: “Mr Gooney is a hard-working man. He fits the profile of your typical country lad, maybe that’s a very unfair profile nowadays who leaves school early, works hard and plays hard for a while.

The solicitor said Mr Gooney works six days a week. He said that he won’t go near this family again.

He said: “He was a hot head in the past and drink didn’t help."

“At a point in the encounter he wasn’t welcome in the house and it seems that was made known to him. There were blurred lines all round. It is a very messy situation…The victim should not have had to encounter what she encountered."

Mr Hassett said that Mr Gooney has no cases pending against him and has kept his nose clean since. Mr Gooney was freed on bail pending an appeal of his prison term to the circuit court.