Damien Mc Glinchey, 36, claimed he suffered "battered
husband's" syndrome, and that on January, 29, 2006, his
ex girlfriend, a Derry door woman, a former kickboxer,
had come home after a night on the tiles, kicked the
door down and attacked him.
But the court found in favour of his ex, Sylvia Nash, as
she had sustained injury from the incident.
The blonde bouncer told the court: "He pinned me down on
the bed, trying to choke me, he lifted me by my hair, I
could hear my hair tearing. He pushed me into the boiler
and I heard a crack, then he battered my face."
Mc Glinchey's defence lawyer Ciaran Mac Lochlainn
accused Ms Nash in court of covering up her part in the
domestic, saying: "You are leading the court to believe
you are a victim. Do you do any sport Ms Nash - aren't
you indeed a kickboxer?"
Ms Nash replied: "I was a kickboxer 20 years ago and
only for three months. I don't kickbox anymore, although
my daughter did fight for the Irish team."
Mr Mac Lochlainn continued: "You also work as a bouncer.
You are a woman who can look after herself."
To which she replied: "I work with a company of men
bouncers, if they need a lady, they come to me."
After the violent outburst, she went to Altnagelvin
Hospital, Derry.
She was treated for facial injury and for a hurt arm.
While Mc Glinchey claimed his ex had booted the door in
to the Redrow house, Buncrana, Ms Nash told the court
she had come home after a night out and found herself
locked out.
She claimed that she was forced to shove the locked door
open with her shoulder to get inside in the cold
weather.
Ms Nash said she was assaulted, only striking back in
self defence, when Mc Glinchey set upon her in a jealous
rage, accusing her of being "out all night shagging".
She said: "It was self-defence, I hit him after he hit
me, he pinned me down on the bed, he was trying to kill
me."
In their three years cohabiting, Ms Nash said she'd
become a: "a punchbag", that she was too afraid to
report his violence to the gardai.
Former lorry driver, Mc Glinchey, described by his
defence as "not the biggest or strongest of men",
claimed he was suffering "battered husband's" syndrome.
Mc Glinchey said: "I was asleep on the couch, when I
heard the rattle of the door being kicked in. She went
ballistic. She punched me, beating me round the place. I
punched her to calm her down."
Also, described as an 'asthmatic', Mc Glinchey added: "I
didn't go to the guards, it was embarrassing getting hit
by a woman - it's bad enough being hit by a man.
"There were previous
incidents where she beat me up."
Ms Nash admitted she hit Mc Glinchey
over the head with a wooden jewellery box, but only to
get her enraged former partner off her.
Stormy relationship
In sentencing Judge Fitzpatrick told the estranged
couple: "This was a stormy relationship, it appears
there were frequent disturbances and rows. Mr Mc
Glinchey claims Ms Nash was the aggressor. She might
have retaliated on occasions, but there is no evidence
that Mr Mc Glinchey was injured at all on this occasion.
"Ms Nash accepts she struck him with a jewellery box. I
believe she was assaulted, and injured. He tried to
choke her, hit her, injured her arm. The evidence before
me is that she was assaulted - and surely she may have
tried to retaliate, but that is no justification for the
defendant to beat her up."
Mc Glinchey was ordered to pay a 1,000 euro fine within
28 days or face prison.
