Man who told ex-partner 'I'm not afraid to kill you' during attack in front of children, gets 16 months
A father-of-five who beat up his ex-partner and threatened to kill her while his children hid in a room and called 999 has been jailed for 16 months.
David Weafer let himself into his former family home uninvited before threatening the mother of his children with a knife, kneeing her in the face and head-butting her, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard today.
He told her: “I'm not afraid to kill you,” during the assault.
During the attack, the couple's five children hid in another room at their mother's urging and rang emergency services before the older ones tried to intervene, witnessing the assault.
Weafer (aged 33) with an address at Willow Park Road, Glasnevin, Dublin, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Jennifer Staunton and threatening her at the same address on February 10, 2018.
Handing down a three-year sentence, Judge Martin Nolan said it was a “serious attack”.
“This violence was witnessed by a number of children including the older child who tried to intervene,” he said.
He suspended the final 20 months of the sentence on a number of conditions, including that Weafer stay away from his former partner and the family home.
Garda Mairead Burke told Maddie Grant BL, prosecuting, that Weafer let himself into the house on the evening in question, using a key he had obtained from one of the children. He was drinking cans of beer and refused to leave.
The couple's five children, aged between one and 14, were at home at the time. When Weafer became aggressive, Ms Staunton told the older children to take the younger ones into another room upstairs, where they rang emergency services.
Weafer then threatened Ms Staunton with the knife before cutting his own arm. He grabbed her by the head, kneeing her to the face. The older child came down and tried to intervene before Weafer head-butted Ms Staunton. Gardaí arrived shortly afterwards.
Ms Staunton suffered facial swelling in the assault. She declined to give a victim impact statement.
The court heard Weafer has 33 previous convictions, including a number of domestic barring order breaches.
Luigi Rea BL, defending, said his client abused alcohol and was intoxicated on the night in question. He said his client had a bad fall in 2017 and was put on medication which worsened his alcohol dependency.
He previously held a number of jobs including in a bakery and installing office partitions.
Weafer was extremely remorseful and wanted to get back the trust of his ex-partner and children, the court heard. “He is determined it won't happen again,” Mr Rea said.
