A woman who was beaten and bitten by her partner in a “rage of jealousy” was helped by a leading criminal barrister who called an ambulance after she fled her home, a court has heard.

Lorcan Staines SC and his wife helped the woman, who called to their home in the early hours of the morning after the attack in October 2021, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard today.

Tesfahannes Weldibanos (50) with an address in Mall House, North Mall, Cork, pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting the woman causing her harm at her Dublin home on October 30, 2021. He was given a suspended three-year sentence.

Garda Emer Murphy told Garret Baker SC, prosecuting, that on the night in question, Weldibanos and his partner were socialising with friends when the woman hugged one of the men present.

Attack

Weldibanos immediately got angry with his partner and she went home soon afterwards. She was asleep in bed around 4am when Weldibanos came home, woke her up and started arguing with her, calling her a “bitch” and a “prostitute”.

He then sat on the woman as she lay in bed, pinning her arms to her side so she couldn't move and slapped her face repeatedly. During the attack, he bit her eye, her neck and her hairline and punched and slapped her repeatedly to the face and head.

He told her he was going to break her neck, leaving her in fear for her life.

After pleading with him to stop, the woman eventually closed her eyes and stopped reacting. Weldibanos pulled her by the hair, causing some of it to fall out, but when she still didn't respond, he lay on the ground and fell asleep.

The woman escaped the property and called first on one set of neighbours, who were not present and then a second, which was the home of criminal barrister Lorcan Staines, Mr Baker said.

Mr Staines and his wife called an ambulance for the woman, who was taken to hospital and treated for head injuries. She has a scar to her eye.

'Patently unspeakable' actions

Dean Kelly SC, defending, said his client is originally from Eritrea and sought asylum in Ireland , where he has lived for 20 years. He has no previous convictions.

Mr Kelly said his client's actions on the night were “patently unspeakable” but occurred on a one-off basis rather than in the background of a pattern of domestic abuse. The couple split up in the wake of the assault.

A letter of apology was handed into court expressing Weldibanos's “shame and sorrow” at his actions that night. He works full-time in a plastic manufacturing company in Cork and had €3,000 in court for his former partner as a token of his remorse.

Sentencing Weldibanos, Judge Martin Nolan said it was clear he beat his partner while in a “rage of jealousy”. He noted the woman was helped “by a colleague of ours” who called her an ambulance.

He said he would not impose a custodial sentence, given Weldibanos's lack of previous convictions and his low likelihood of re-offending.

He handed down a three year sentence which he suspended on a number of conditions, including that Weldibanos offer his former partner a further €3,000 within one year. He ordered him to have no direct contact with her for a period of three years.