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AN Omagh man who lifted his girlfriend off the ground when he was choking her with both hands during a night-out has been jailed for nine months.
Coleraine Magistrates Court heard that when Brandon McKenna was strangling his victim, ‘she couldn’t breathe and she believed he was going to kill her’.
The 26-year-old plasterer, with an address on Riverview Road, Mullaghmore in Omagh, had earlier been convicted of common assault and non-fatal strangulation or asphyxiation arising from an incident on January 5, 2024.
A prosecuting lawyer told the court how McKenna had been in a bar with the victim during a night-out in Derry when he hurled abuse at her and called her names.
After leaving the premises, he ‘put his arms around her, as if hugging her’, but instead, he was nipping her and causing pain.
She ran away and he chased her into a car park, ‘grabbing her with both hands around the neck, using so much force he lifted her off the ground’.
“She was so scared, she couldn’t breathe and she believed he was going to kill her,” said the prosecution lawyer.
After a taxi driver shouted, the victim ran away. She had two red marks and a scrape to the side of her neck where his hands had been, the court also heard.
Revealing that McKenna has a relevant record for assaults and domestic violence, the PPS lawyer applied for a Restraining Order.
Defence counsel Stephen McNicholl said his client, ‘accepted that he had grabbed the victim by her clothes but did not accept placing his hands around her throat’.
“He is aware that he has placed his liberty in jeopardy by his actions,” the lawyer conceded.
Mr McNicholl submitted that the incident had been ‘exacerbated by alcohol’ and was not pre-planned, describing it as ‘a very poor decision’ and ‘a reckless action while under the influence of alcohol’.
Further conceding that ”she did not deserve to be subjected to any assault; it must have been a very scary experience for her’, he urged Deputy District Judge Noel Dunlop to take into account that the offences had been committed two years earlier, as well as ‘the positive changes’ in his client’s life.
Mr McNicholl added, “He is a new father… he is free from alcohol and any drugs. He has taken steps to address his issues.
“Sending this man to custody will disrupt all the progress he has made… to send him to prison would have no benefit on him.”
Judge Dunlop told the defendant however, “these are serious offences… you have a propensity to commit assaults. These matters cross the custody threshold.”
As well as the prison sentence, he imposed a two-year Restraining Order.
Following a defence application, McKenna was released on his own bail of £500 pending an appeal.
