Gorey man pleads guilty to savage attack on young mother
ENNISCORTHY WOMAN FALSELY IMPRISONED AND BEATEN AT HOME
A GOREY man who falsely imprisoned a young mother in her own home and viciously assaulted her will be sentenced at Wexford Circuit Court on November 25.
Last Tuesday 30-year-old Dean Ward of Ballintlea, Gorey was charged with assaulting Caroline O’Neill causing her harm, false imprisonment and criminal damage at her home in 63, Maderia Woods, Enniscorthy on November 29, 2015.
He pleaded guilty to the charges.
The court heard evidence from Garda Bernard McGinley who said that Ms O’Neill met Ward through the internet dating website Plenty of Fish. The two had corresponded for a short time before meeting up on a number of occasions.
They met up for the third time on the evening of November 28, 2015 and the offences were carried out in the early hours of the following morning, November 29, 2015.
On the evening in question Ms O’Neill and Ward went out to celebrate her birthday accompanied by three of her friends. During the evening they went to a number of licensed premises before going to Benedict’s nightclub in Enniscorthy town.
Once inside the house a row ensued and during the course of this Ward grabbed Ms O’Neill’s mobile phone and smashed it. He then hit her in the face with a closed fist and knocked her to the floor.
Ms O’Neill then went to the bathroom to wipe the blood from her face and Ward followed her into the room. He hit her again in the face again knocking her to the floor. He also made a number of threats, putting Ms O’Neill in fear of her safety.
She then went downstairs and Ward followed her down and once again punched her again. Ms O’Neill managed to flee her home and made her way outside to her garden to escape from Ward but he chased her, put his hand over her mouth and pulled her back inside the house.
Once inside he locked the front door from the inside so she couldn’t escape again.
Garda McGinley said that as a result of the commotion inside Ms O’Neill’s home a number of passers-by became concerned and approached Ms O’Neill’s home to see if they could help.
On hearing them, Ward fled the house through the back door while the people helped Ms O’Neill escape the house through her front sitting room window.
Ms O’Neill was brought to hospital by ambulance as a result of her injuries. A medical report said that she was fully orientated and alert on arrival and had bruising to both her eyes, her back and her right flank.
Ms O’Neill was admitted to hospital for observation. Photographs taken within three days of the assault were shown to the court.
Ward was identified to gardai by Ms O’Neill through his online profile photos. The court heard it took some time to locate Ward and he was arrested on February 16, 2016.
During interview he admitted to being in Ms O’Neill’s home and to having a row with her but he didn’t accept her account of what happened.
The court heard Ward had received a three-year prison sentence in November 2006 in Guilford in England for an attempted wounding with the intention of causing grievous bodily harm.
Judge Barry Hickson was also told that Ward wrote a letter of apology to Ms O’Neill in July of this year which had been given to her in recent weeks.
Under cross-examination from defending counsel Philip Sheahan, Garda McGinley said it was unclear how much Ward had to drink on the night but said he knew some alcohol had been taken by him.
He said that Ward had wrongly believed that Ms O’Neill was engaging in flirtatious behaviour with others. Garda McGinley agreed with Mr Sheahan that Ward was in a ‘state of heightened emotion’.
Mr Sheahan said that Ward had previously been in a relationship with a Scottish national and they have one child together and they also had a son who was stillborn. Mr Sheahan said that the loss of his son had had a ‘sad effect’ on Ward.
The court heard Ward has two siblings and lived for a time in the UK. He worked as a labourer with a construction company until he was remanded in custody in February 2016.
Giving evidence on his behalf Ward’s mother Bridget Dediu said that Ward had always been a good worker and said that ‘ the last couple of years hadn’t been kind to him’ referring to the death of his son.
‘He couldn’t cope and Sandra (his then partner) returned to Scotland with their other son. Instead of pulling together they pulled apart.’
In respect of the offences carried out by Ward on November 29, 2015 Ms Dediu said ‘ he wasn’t brought up to be this type of person and I hope to never see it again. Dean was always the more homely of the two brothers and more into family.
‘Im seeking a bit of leniency. This never happened before and is totally out of character. There is never any violence in any generation of our family. He’s never seen any kind of that behaviour. We’re not that type of people. He’s not really a drinker. He might have the odd shandy. This won’t happen again. I think there was a lot of spirits involved on the night’, she said.
Under cross-examination from prosecuting counsel Sinead Gleeson, Ms Dediu said that she became aware that her son was in some sort of trouble when gardai called to the house and searched her home. She said she told them that Ward lived in Newtownmountkennedy. Ms Dediu said she didn’t become aware of the serious charges against her son until he was arrested.
She said that later in the day of November 29, 2015 she had gone to Caroline O’Neill’s home to get her keys saying she had given them to Ward prior to that so that he could feed her dogs while she attended a funeral in England.
She said that he had told her he would be in Ms O’Neill’s house but would return to Gorey on the bus to feed the dogs. ‘ That day I went to get me keys and I went inside and her (Ms O’Neill’s) father said Dean wasn’t there and ‘ there’s been an incident’. I went upstairs with her sister and said I couldn’t believe what happened.’
She also alleged there was evidence of ‘ heavy drinking’ in the house but Ms Gleeson said that the gardai’s evidence didn’t cooberate this and said that the medical report on Ms O’Neill said she was ‘fully alert and orientated’ and made no reference to alcohol.
Ward’s counsel also handed in a letter from prison chaplain which said he was ‘quite gentle, pleasant and courteous and it (the incident) seems very out of character’.
Judge Hickson said that ‘mothers are not always the most objective when it comes to their sons but you can’t blame them for that. His ( Ward’s) account to the gardai is basically totally lies including the fact that he denies any altercation with the authorities in the UK yet he received a sentence there.’
He adjourned the case until Friday, November 25, to allow for the preparation of a governor’s report from the Midlands Prison.