Derry Court: Man who stabbed woman in buttocks with scissors jailed for domestic assault

A man has been jailed at Derry Magistrate's Court today for three domestic assaults in one where he stabbed the woman in the buttocks with a pair of scissors.

James Doherty (23) of Deramore Drive in Derry had denied the charges of two assaults on April 2 and one on March 10 last year.

He did not turn up for his contest and had been convicted in his absence.

Today the court was told that the injured party, now his former partner, had been asleep in bed on April 2 when Doherty woke her up and was 'immediately hostile.'

He shouted at her to leave before striking her with a closed fist in the face.

She went down the stairs and came back up to see if Doherty had calmed down.

She was rolling a cigarette when she felt a sharp pain in her buttocks and an examination revealed he had stabbed her with a small pair of scissors.

When she challenged Doherty he said 'I got away with stabbing someone before and I will again.'

The woman phoned police and also disclosed Doherty had also assaulted her on March 10 by punching her to the face.

Defence solicitor Keith Kyle said his client was aware of the court's attitude to domestic violence.

He said that as his client had not co-operated with probation the options before the court were 'limited'.

The solicitor said that the assaults occurred when Doherty was abusing substances and was now clean.

District Judge Barney McElholm said that there was no pre-sentence report because Doherty 'could not be bothered'.

He said there was a long history of domestic abuse towards the same injured party.

He sentenced Doherty to 5 months in prison and imposed a Restraining Order for a period of 5 years.