Sentenced to 18 months in prison for flogging partner
A MAN who flogged his partner with a belt, dragged her on the ground and broke her mobile phone causing her to jump out a window in fear for her life, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for assault and criminal damage to property.
The woman who was flogged told Sligo Circuit Court that as the man was flogging her, he phoned her mother so that she could hear.
The court heard that Vita Luyindula (45) of Apartment 6, Springvale, Tubbercurry, assaulted Carine Tchayatcheuko on November 10, 2019, and caused damage to her mobile phone at the same address.
On the second count of criminal damage, Judge Francis Comerford sentenced the man to one year imprisonment to run concurrently with the first sentence.
The man pleaded guilty on both counts. The court heard testimony from Garda Michael Cunningham who was on duty on December 19, 2019, when Tchayatcheuko came to the station. He said she was screaming and upset, she had a large bruise on her forehead and marks on her forearm. She was banging on the counter. Garda Cunningham managed to calm her down and gave her a glass of water. He then noticed the broken mobile phone and tried to fix it. She complained of pain in her lower back and said her partner had flogged her with a belt and dragged her on the ground.
Garda Cunningham arranged for her to be taken to the A&E department of Sligo University Hospital.
At that point, Tchayatcheuko was residing at a direct provision centre in Monaghan, so he arranged for a colleague stationed there to obtain photos of the woman’s injuries. Garda Cunningham subsequently travelled to Monaghan to get a statement from her.
The court heard that Garda McNicholas was on mobile patrol on November 10, 2019, when he received a call from a neighbour in the apartment upstairs from Apartment 6, Springvale. He had heard shouting and a female crying downstairs. Three gardaí attended the scene to be told by Luyindula his partner had gone to stay with two friends.
They proceeded to the friend’s apartment and met Tchayatcheuko. They saw a visible mark on her bottom lip. Photographs of Tchayatcheuko’s injuries and a statement from her were taken the following morning. Garda McNicholas also took a statement from her neighbour.
A further statement of complaint was made by Tchayatcheuko at Tubbercurry Garda Station on November 18, 2019, and that complaint was later withdrawn.
Luyindula was subsequently arrested at his home in Tubbercurry on January 11, 2020. In his statement to gardaí, he alleged she slapped him in the face, and he pushed her by mistake and that was why she made claims against him.
He said she wasn’t answering his phone calls, he knew she was smoking weed and she knew he didn’t like weed. He said he broke her phone “by mistake” to make her go outside. He explained her falling to the ground by her blood pressure condition and said the mark to her face was from when she fell. He also said that she had a problem with alcohol, and he wanted to protect her from that.
He said he slapped her on the backside. He said he knew you couldn’t slap a woman on the face. He said he simply wanted to keep her at home until she was sober.
A medical report by Dr Áine Mitchell, a consultant in emergency medicine at Sligo University Hospital, from December 20, 2019, was submitted into evidence.
In addition, photos of a lip injury sustained by the victim and a broken Samsung mobile phone from the November 2019 incident were submitted, as were photos of her face and arm areas from December 22, 2019. Counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Leo Mulrooney, read the victim impact evidence into the court. Tchayatcheuko said Luyindula had headbutted her in the face and flogged her with a belt and as he was doing this, he phoned her mother so that she could hear.
She said when she found out she was pregnant with his baby, he was nice to her for about the first six months of her pregnancy and then reverted to his old ways.
The victim said she couldn’t use her right hand for several months and was in a lot of pain. She said she had to jump out of a window as she knew she wouldn’t make it.
She trusted nobody and felt humiliated and embarrassed especially as he had told people [about it]. She attended a mental health hospital now. She said she felt tired all the time, didn’t like going out and didn’t care how she looked. She drank alcohol and smoked some weed to help with how she felt. She hadn’t the attention to read anymore and got upset when she heard music that reminded her of him. Her memory was also not as good as before. Regarding the damage to her property, the victim said it had cost her €350 to repair her Samsung 57 mobile phone.
Luyindula testified he came to Ireland from Angola in 2006 and this was the worst thing that had happened him since.
It was his first time in court, and he’d never been in prison before. He assured the court that he would never repeat this again and that it was a lesson for him. He made a public apology in court and asked for pardon through his translator.
Under examination from defence counsel Mr Eoin McGovern, he explained he had a child with the victim whom he sees and has brought food to.
He said he had received a text message from Men Overcoming Violence and had applied for a credit union loan to help the victim financially.
Judge Francis Comerford said the context was a series of violent acts that constituted domestic abuse, and it was not just one occasion of losing control. He said the assaults were sufficient, prolonged and involved to attract the neighbour’s attention. The December 19 attack was the most serious – with the use of a belt to hit the victim on the back and falsely imprisoning her. He sentenced Luyindula to 18 months in prison.