Man pleaded guilty to strangling former partner and hitting her across the head with a bottle
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A MAN has pleaded guilty to strangling his former partner and attacking her with a Jägermeister bottle during a row that raged for hours in her Carlow home.
Robert Dooley (31) entered guilty pleas at Carlow Circuit Court to assault causing harm, non-fatal strangulation and producing an article capable of inflicting serious injury following a dispute at Willow Park, Tullow Road, Carlow late on 11 September into the early hours of 12 September 2024.
The three counts all relate to 11 September 2024 at Willow Park, Tullow Road, Carlow. Count one charges that Mr Dooley assaulted his ex-partner, thereby causing her harm, contrary to section 3 of the , as amended.
Count two charges that he intentionally or recklessly strangled her, contrary to section 3A(1)(a) of the same act, as amended. Count three charges that, while committing or appearing to be about to commit the offence of assault, or in the course of a dispute or fight, he produced in a manner likely unlawfully to intimidate her an article capable of inflicting serious injury, namely a glass bottle, contrary to section 11 of the .
Mr Dooley, 67 Bishop Birch Place, Kilkenny had initially pleaded not guilty to all three charges and a trial had started but he was then re-arraigned on the first day of evidence, pleading guilty to each count.
Opening the case, Brian O’Shea BL, instructed by state solicitor Brendan O’Flaherty, told the jury the incident happened in the injured party’s home in Carlow town and that she had been in a three-month relationship with Mr Dooley, who was staying at her house for the night.
“There was drink involved. He was quite drunk and an argument ensued,” said Mr O’Shea. He told the jury there was an assault on the woman during which harm was caused and that separate from that assault, there was an “entire continuum of events.” Mr Dooley strangled her, he said, explaining that in legal terms strangulation means applying force to the neck of another to impede breathing or the circulation of blood.
Matters then “escalated further” and “a bottle was introduced into the equation.” Gardaí were eventually called to the scene and arrested the accused.
The injured party was the first witness called and she told the court that she had known Mr Dooley a long time and that they had been in a relationship for about two months when the incident happened.
"We’d had a few drinks that day. I went to bed and he went and got a shower. When he got out, I was asleep. He woke me up and said that I had his phone. I didn’t have his phone and this is how the argument started, he got very aggressive,” she said.
“He grabbed me up out of bed and started strangling me. His hands were around my neck. I felt like I was going to die. It was sore, like I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t breathe.
“I was trying to get him off me by struggling. Eventually, I did,” she said. “He hit me with his hands upstairs. He headbutted me and drew blood. There was blood everywhere. I headbutted him back.” “I pushed him away. He came down after me,” she said. “He was strangling and hitting me again. He lifted me up off the ground – clean off the ground – by my neck.” “There was a large Jägermeister bottle in the kitchen. He hit it off the back of my head and smashed it off the ground. I screamed for my son to get out of the house. He ran out the door and I ran after him and he came out afterwards.
“We got back into the house and locked the door. He was banging and banging on the door,” she said.
Cross-examining, Jane McCudden BL put it to the woman that Mr Dooley accepted “there was an unpleasant incident, a nasty row and that it went on for a number of hours” but that there was “a divergence in terms of the circumstances of that”.
Asked what time the incident had started, the injured party said she went to sleep at about 9pm or 10pm and was woken at around midnight or 1am by Mr Dooley. Counsel said Mr Dooley told gardaí it started around midnight and went on for a number of hours, with gardaí arriving at about 7.30am. “I was brought in an ambulance … I can’t remember,” the woman replied.
Asked whether she had smashed his phone, she said: “No. I didn’t. That’s why it started in the first place, I had never taken his phone.” Referring to the Jägermeister, Ms McCudden said her client’s position was that both parties had been drinking. “Yes, but I stopped drinking at 9pm and went to bed. He continued drinking. I started drinking at around 7pm when I put the children to bed,” the injured party said.
Counsel put it to her that both had been drinking and both were intoxicated. “I had one or two drinks and went to bed at 9pm,” she replied. Ms McCudden asked if she denied having any drink from midnight onwards and put it to her that gardaí had observed signs of intoxication when they arrived. The injured party said: “I wasn’t drunk.” Ms McCudden put it to her that Mr Dooley told gardaí she had been “freaking out” having consumed Jägermeister that did not agree with her and that he grabbed her by the throat and pinned her down on the bed in order to restrain her.
“If you see evidence of photos of what he did to my neck…” the woman began.
“There’s no dispute that he grabbed you by the throat. The issue is he said he did it in an effort to restrain you because you were freaking out and lashing out at him,” counsel said.
“After he strangled me and I was trying to get away from him, I was floating above. He was making me lose consciousness,” she replied.
Counsel put Mr Dooley’s account to her, in which he told gardaí that the woman had said she drank the bottle of Jägermeister and kept calling him by her ex-boyfriend’s name, while he repeatedly asked her to calm down.
Asked about the headbutt, she said: “He headbutted me. I have a scar on my head to this day,” adding that she headbutted him back in self-defence. “He slit my whole face, there was blood everywhere,” she said, adding that it “had to be glued back together.” Ms McCudden put it to her that she had threatened to cut Mr Dooley with a razor, which she denied.
The case was adjourned during lunchtime and when the jury returned, they were told by the judge that there had been a development in the case and Mr Dooley was re-arraigned in front of them and pleaded guilty to all three counts.
Following the guilty pleas, the jury was released. Judge Mary Morrissey ordered a probation report and a victim impact statement ahead of sentencing.
Ms McCudden said her client wanted “to engage with probation and address risk factors that are present or were present back in 2024,” adding that he wished to undertake the MEND programme between now and November and address anger management.
Mr Dooley, who has been on bail since September 2024, had bail consented to until the next court session.
