Drunk man ‘punched girlfriend’ after she refused to buy alcohol

A DRUNK man punched his girlfriend in the side of the face six times after she refused to give him money to buy more alcohol, a court has heard.

Photographs of the injuries sustained by the woman were branded as “shocking” when her alleged attacker, 35-year-old Longuinhos Lopes, appeared before Strabane Magistrates Court, via videolink from Dungannon PSNI custody suite.

Lopes, of Empire Avenue, Dungannon, is charged with assault, occasioning actual bodily harm, on July 3 this year. The offence is allegedly aggravated by reason of involving domestic abuse.

Speaking via an East Timorese interpreter, Lopes confirmed that he understood the charge against him.

A PSNI officer told the court he believed he could connect the defendant to the charge.

The court heard that, at 8.30pm on July 4, the alleged injured party told police she had been assaulted by the defendant, who was her boyfriend, earlier that day. She told officers that she had went around to her boyfriend’s address and found that he had been drinking alcohol. When the defendant asked her for money to buy more drink, she questioned whether this was necessary.

Lopes reacted by pushing her on to the bed and punching her six times to the side of her face, the court heard.

Officers observed that she had sustained “substantial swelling” to her forehead and photographs were taken of the injuries.

Lopes was subsequently arrested and taken to Dungannon custody suite. During interview, the defendant admitted assaulting his girlfriend and claimed he did it because he suspected she was cheating on him.

He further stated that he had asked her for money to buy more alcohol because he believed it helped him to sleep.

The police officer told the court that Lopes had no previous convictions and there had been no reported incidents of domestic abuse prior to this alleged assault.

When defending solicitor, Ronan McCourt, told the court that the photographs in the case were “disturbing”, District Judge Alana McSorley replied that they were “shocking”.

She asked the interpreter to convey this to the defendant.

While Mr McCourt said he was not wishing to minimise the severity of the alleged assault, he told the court that the injured party had “some form of facial deformity from birth” and this could make the injuries in the photographs appear worse than they are in reality.

Having said that, the solicitor accepted there was no suggestion the assault charge would be reduced.

Mr McCourt told the court that his client lived less than a mile from his alleged victim, but did not have an alternative bail address.

He said that, if moved from his present address, the defendant may have difficulty travelling to his work in Benburb. The solicitor urged the court to afford Lopes some credit for his admissions and honesty with which he had dealt with the matter.

District Judge McSorley granted the defendant his own bail of £250, subject to a number of stringent conditions.

However, the judge observed that the address put forward by the defence was “not appropriate”.

“Less than a mile is certainly too close”, she said.

Under the terms of the bail, Lopes must find an address approved by police. He is further banned from contacting his alleged victim and must refrain from taking alcohol.

The case has been adjourned until August 2 at Dungannon Magistrates Court.