No bail for ‘violent thug’ who beat up his partner

A CONVICTED killer was described as a “violent thug” when he appeared before a District Judge in Londonderry yesterday charged with assaulting his partner by urinating on her.

Gareth Wray (42) was also accused in Derry Magistrates Court of pulling out her hair, punching her face and banging her head off a wall.

Wray denied carrying out the attacks on his partner on Saturday last in his Cornshell Fields home.

As part of her objections to the defendant being granted bail, a police officer told District Judge Barney Mcelholm that the defendant was jailed in 2007 for manslaughter.

Wray got eight years after he admitted beating a vulnerable man to death in his home in the

Waterside area of the city. He was one of four people jailed for their involvement in what a judge described as “a squalid killing”.

The officer told Mr Mcelholm that last Saturday afternoon the injured party reported to the police that the defendant allegedly assaulted her after they had an argument about an alleged affair.

She said she left the bedroom during the argument and that he followed her downstairs, banged her head off a wall, pulled out parts of her hair and punched her face.

She managed to break free and went outside where she was collected by her father, whom she’d earlier contacted.

She also told the police that in the early hours of Saturday the defendant had urinated on her as she lay in bed, again following an argument over an alleged affair. She said the defendant had also punched her with a closed and open fist.

Objecting to bail, the officer said the defendant was “a very violent offender” who, as well as the manslaughter conviction, had convictions for assaulting five previous partners.

The officer believed that if granted bail the defendant would reoffend and interfere with witnesses.

Following his arrest the officer said the defendant made demeaning comments of a sexual nature about his partner and said he remembered nothing about the incidents due to the amount of alcohol he had consumed.

She said Wray had a 10-year Restraining Order imposed on him following an assault on a previous partner.

Cross-examined by defence barrister Eoghan Devlin, the police witness said the complainant had made two statements to the police, though she had not gone to her doctor for medical attention following the alleged incident.

“We have photographs of the injuries to her,” she said.

Mr Devlin said the defendant could be granted bail to an address outside of Derry.

Mr Mcelholm said he wanted the police to further investigate the allegation that the defendant had urinated on his partner.

“No bail address would be suitable for this man and I would hesitate to inflict this violent thug on anywhere else,” Mr Mcelhom said.

“There is only one place suitable for him and that is in custody given his history of violence, particularly against women.”

The defendant was remanded in custody until December 31.

‘There is only one place suitable for him... custody’