Co. Tyrone man admits assaulting girlfriend during romantic stay in Derry hotel
Patrick Sherry, 33, from Castle Hill Park in Ballygawley also admitted threatening to kill his girlfriend and possessing a clothes iron with intent to assault her. He committed the offences in a bedroom in Da Vinci's Hotel on March 26 of last year
A Co. Tyrone man who admitted assaulting his girlfriend during a romantic stay in a Derry hotel to celebrate her birthday has been jailed for two and a half years at the Crown Court in Derry.
Patrick Sherry, 33, from Castle Hill Park in Ballygawley also admitted threatening to kill his girlfriend and possessing a clothes iron with intent to assault her. He committed the offences in a bedroom in Da Vinci's Hotel on March 26 of last year.
The victim sustained a lot of internal bruising as well as both tissue and muscle damage to her torso area. She also sustained substantial bruising to her neck, throat, arms legs and face as a result of the attack during which Sherry squeezed her throat and threatened to kill her with the iron's cord.
A prosecution barrister said other guests reported to staff members that they'd heard a woman screaming from inside one of the hotel bedrooms. A staff member knocked on the bedroom door and said he was going to call the police if no-one answered. The victim, who had bruising to her face, opened the door. She was taken to the lobby and the police were contacted.
"She stated they had earlier been in town for a few drinks before returning to the hotel room where she states the defendant became agitated and began making accusations against her. She said the defendant then launched a violent unprovoked attack upon her, punching and headbutting her to the face, squeezing her throat with both hands, kicking her to the leg and ribs and stamping on her. At one stage she said the defendant lifted the clothes iron, wrapped the cord around his hand and told her he was going to kill her", the prosecutor said.
"She genuinely believes she would have been killed within the room had the staff member not intervened", the prosecutor told Judge Philip Babington.
The police found blood on the bed and in the sink. The victim said Sherry also made her clean her blood from her face with his t-shirt which was later recovered in a rucksack inside the defendant's car. When Sherry was questioned by the police he denied the allegations describing them as lies before he eventually pleaded guilty to all of the charges on the day of his trial last June.
Judge Babington said Sherry, who had ten previous criminal convictions, had been assessed as being at a high likelihood of re-offending.
"Your behaviour towards your then girlfriend was quite appalling. It went on for some hours and then you prevaricated", he told Sherry.
As well as jailing Sherry, Judge Babington imposed a Restraining Order for three years banning Sherry from contacting the victim directly or indirectly and banning him from entering within two hundreds metres of her home.