By 
A SION Mills man who threatened to slit a woman’s throat has been handed a suspended prison term.
Reece McGuigan (22) of Lismore Park was told by Deputy District Judge John Connolly that violence against women will not be tolerated.
The court heard that on August 1 last year, McGuigan approached a woman with a broken bottle in his hand and made the vicious threat. He had also threatened to damage the woman’s mother’s car.
When police attended the scene, McGuigan approached officers in an aggressive manner saying, “Come and get it now.” He was consequently warned about his behaviour but continued to be aggressive. Such was the defendant’s manner, one of the officers used pepper spray. Then, after a short chase, McGuigan was apprehended.
Later in interview, the Sion man said he had been intoxicated at the time and had consumed a lot of alcohol. He said he had seen the woman with another male and had become jealous. He claimed he didn’t remember making the threats and that he never intended to hurt anyone.
Concerning
Representing McGuigan, barrister Joe McCann said his client had no history of domestic violence and there had been no offending since this incident.
“He doesn’t intend to contact this lady any more,” he told the court.
Outlining sentence, Judge Connolly described the incident as “concerning.”
“I need to be convinced that I can insure the safety of the complainant,” he said.
“This is a case which really does cry out for a custodial sentence. It’s fortunate no-one was injured.”
Judge Connolly then handed McGuigan a nine-month prison term suspended for two years. He also issued a restraining order to run for the same time period.
“Make no mistake Mr McGuigan, if there is any further offending or a breach of the restraining order, you will go straight to prison,” the judge said.
“The levels of domestic violence in society calls out for strong sentences.”