Jail term handed down for man who broke Offaly woman's jaw in savage late night attack
A MAN who broke a woman's jaw after chasing her down an alley in Birr was sentenced to three years in prison, including 18 months suspended, and ordered to pay €5,000 to the victim.
Rafal Replin (36), Killeen, Riverstown, Birr, had pleaded guilty at Tullamore Circuit Court earlier this year to assaulting Danielle Moten, causing her harm, at Main Street, Birr on September 16, 2019.
Mr Replin previously denied the assault and at a trial last May the jury was discharged because of concerns about the impartiality of a juror.
The Polish native then decided to plead guilty and Judge Keenan Johnson noted at the sentencing hearing on Tuesday that meant the victim was spared going through a second trial.
In a victim impact statement read to the court by Garda Larry O'Gorman, Ms Moten said she had spent 10 weeks with her jaw wired as a result of the assault and she still struggled to eat without feeling pain.
Her food had to be liquidised and in just one week she lost five kilos in weight. She still did not have full feeling back in her face and she couldn't even feel when she kissed her own children when she was putting them to bed at night.
“That is something I really struggled with,” said Ms Moten.
She said she used to be a happy outgoing person but that had all changed and she was now on high alert all the time and suffered from anxiety and depression.
“It is something that will stick with me for ever,” she said.
In his evidence at the sentencing hearing, Mr Replin accepted responsibility for what he did to Ms Moten and said he was ashamed.
He said he did not remember everything that happened that night and he did not know why he had done what he did.
He said he planned paying compensation to Ms Moten and was working three days a week in one job while also trying to set up a shed manufacture business.
Mr Replin said he was no longer drinking as much as he did. He was paying €100 a week in maintenance for the six-year-old twin children he had with Celina Hehir, a friend of Ms Moten.
Judge Johnson praised Ms Moten for the “very good” and “very cogent” evidence she had given at the trial.
“What she endured was appalling, it was a savage attack. I can't describe it as other than that,” said the judge.
He added that he accepted Mr Replin did not have a knife and he sentenced him on that basis. The accused had no previous convictions.
He ordered that the €5,000 be paid to Ms Moten within 18 months of Mr Replin's release from prison.
Judge Johnson said there should be a State compensation system for victims of crime because courts were very limited in their efforts to offer recompense.
At the trial which was cut short Ms Moten gave evidence that she had been punched and had her head banged off the ground after both she and the accused man fell in an alley in the early hours of the morning.
Mr Replin denied punching Ms Moten's face or banging her head and said he had fallen on top of her and then tried to calm her by catching her hands but he may have touched her face while doing so.
Celina Hehir, who was running ahead of Ms Moten, told the court that she had not seen the accused punching the other woman or pushing her head into the concrete, but did see Mr Replin on top of her with his knees either side and pulling her jacket really hard.
The jury had heard that Mr Replin was in a relationship with Ms Hehir, and Ms Moten was an ex-partner of Ms Hehir's brother.
At about 1.30 or 2am on September 16, 2019 Ms Hehir asked Ms Moten to accompany her to Mr Replin's apartment above an organic shop in Birr because she wanted to retrieve her mobile phone.
When they arrived they noticed that Mr Replin was intoxicated and because he had his hands behind his back they both believed he had a knife.
Ms Moten said there was shouting back and forth when he would not hand over the phone and that continued when both women were down on the street.
The jury was told that Mr Replin shouted “Get out” and both women ran down the street and turned into an alleyway.
Mr Replin followed in his boxer shorts and tee-shirt and then slipped in the alleyway, falling into Ms Moten.
Ms Moten later called an ambulance and was brought to hospital in Tullamore before being transferred to St James' Hospital, Dublin, where she subsequently had a plate and screws inserted in her fractured jaw.