Man (33) attempted to strangle mother of his child

A MOTHER of three says she is lucky to be alive after quick-thinking gardaí found her ex-partner strangling her in bed.

Karen Galvin said she would not be able to relive the moments that led up to an incident at her home in Longford in September 2019 had gardaí not arrived on the scene when they did.

Ms Galvin told a sitting of Longford Circuit Criminal Court of how being pinned to a bed and choked by her thenpartner Brendan Kelleher (33), Drumlish Hill, Drumlish, Co Longford, had left her with everyday emotional, mental and psychological scars.

“If I hadn’t that gut feeling to leave the front door ajar for the guards I know I wouldn’t be here today,” she said. “I’d be dead – plain and simple.”

Ms Galvin, who is now in a new relationship and recently gave birth to twins, said the trauma of what happened had left her with a deep hatred of the accused.

The court was told how gardaí had called to a domestic violence incident at Battery Road, Longford, on September 9, 2019.

Garda Shane O’Connor said that after finding the front door slightly ajar on arrival, the accused was observed lying on top of the victim with one hand gripped around her and the other covering her mouth. He said that after pulling Mr Kelleher off Ms Galvin, the young mother was in an “extremely distressed state” and unable to communicate, with fingerprint marks clearly visible around both her neck and face.

The court was told Kelleher had previously been convicted of breaching a barring order against Ms Galvin in February 2015. It was also revealed Kelleher had more than half a dozen previous convictions to his name, all fuelled by an addiction to alcohol which he had also engaged in on the day of the assault on Ms Galvin.

Kelleher expressed remorse over the incident and alluded to his own attempts to rehabilitate himself by undergoing a three-month alcohol addiction treatment programme in Cuan Mhuire. “I am truly sorry,” he told Judge Keenan Johnson.

Judge Johnson adjourned sentencing until October 5, 2021, for the preparation of a probation report.