A MAN WHO savagely punched his ex-girlfriend in the face, fracturing her nose, causing the nose bone to be exposed and leaving her with a scar has been sentenced to two years.
Christopher Warburton (22) of Montpelier Park, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting a young woman causing her harm on Kinvara Avenue, Navan Road on 1 September, 2015.
Warburton approached his ex-girlfriend as she walked home from work wanting to speak to her about their break-up several months earlier. When she told him she didn’t want to talk to him, he grabbed her wrist tightly before telling her to walk with him towards Ashington Avenue in Dublin.
While he was grabbing her wrist, a man pulled up in a car beside them asking her was she okay. She told the man she wasn’t okay and wanted to go home, but Warburton wouldn’t let her.
Warburton then verbally abused the man and a second person in the car before raising his fist and punching his ex-girlfriend in the nose.
‘Little or no contact’
Garda Robert Madden told prosecuting counsel Caroline Cummings BL that Warburton and the victim had been in a three-year relationship but had split up in May 2015.
“Since they broke up they had little or no contact with each other, but the defendant would phone her and the conversation would end up in an argument,” said Garda Madden.
He said when Warburton approached the woman on the evening and gave her an “unmerciful blow to the nose,” she managed to run to a nearby house for help.
She was taken to the Mater Hospital where she was treated for a fractured nose and four stitches as the skin was broken leaving her nose bone visible.
While she was in hospital, Warburton phoned her and claimed he never hit her and didn’t know what had happened to her. When she told him she had informed the gardaí he called her a ‘rat’ and laughed at her, the court heard.
On bail
Warburton, who has 16 previous convictions, was on bail at the time of the assault.
In her victim impact statement, the woman said she was now more nervous and is distressed by her current appearance with the scar on her nose.
Defence barrister Marc Kennedy BL, said Warburton didn’t take the break-up well and he was trying to resurrect the relationship.
“He apologises to [the victim],’ said Mr Kennedy, explaining that the defendant had taken cocaine earlier in the day.
“He does have issues with anger, but he does have a good side too,” said Kennedy, adding that Warburton had a number of job offers for when he was released from prison.
Judge Martin Nolan said the assault was a serious crime.
“He grabbed her and in the course of the struggle savagely punched her in the face fracturing her nose,” said Judge Nolan.
“The struggle was interrupted, but this did not deter him from punching her.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say