Man agrees to have no contact with woman he assaulted

A 30-YEAR- OLD man agreed at a sitting of the Circuit Court to have no further direct contact with a woman he assaulted.

The address of Raymond Winstone was given in court documents as 39 Manor Village, Castlebar, County Mayo.

However Judge Cormac Quinn, sitting at Wexford Circuit Court last week, learned that the defendant had been living with his mother and step- father in Waterford.

The injured party in the case, mother of Winstone’s two children, was Kate Quirke who resides in New Ross.

The case was dealt with on a previous occasion with the imposition of a prison sentence, which was partly suspended, on conviction for the assault.

It was brought back before the judge after gardaí learned that, since his release from jail, the accused had been communicating with Ms Quirke.

This was in breach of his undertaking not to do so.

The investigating garda told the judge that messages had been exchanged between the pair by text, by Facebook and by WhatsApp over a period from December to February.

While some of the contents were loving, the witness was concerned that some of the messages sent back and forth were abusive in their tone.

Defending barrister Mark Tottenham felt that his client might need psychiatric assessment.

The judge retired to read the contents of the correspondence which had been printed out for the court.

On his return, he decided that it was not necessary to activate the suspended nine months of the sentence.

However, he made it clear that Winstone must not contact the injured party or threaten her by any means.

He ruled that any communication regarding the two children must be conducted through mother of the accused, Teresa Higgins, with the father of Ms Quirke, Podge Quirke.

The defendant was also told that he was not to have a mobile phone or, if he did, then he must get a new phone number.

On that basis the suspended nine months jail was not invoked.