A Waterside man who threw a knife at his girlfriend - causing an injury that required five stitches - has had a two year jail term suspended for three years.
Robert Alexander Mairs (58), of Bonds Street, pleaded guilty to a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on November 1 last year.
Derry Crown Court heard that Mairs and the victim had gone out on Hallowe'en night to a Waterside bar and h
ad a considerable amount to drink.
When they returned to the house, Mairs and the woman, with whom he had been in a relationship for seven or eight years, continued to drink vodka and, “suddenly without warning, he threw a knife at the victim, which struck her on the left thigh and wounded her.”
A prosecutor told the court the couple continued drinking and then Mairs rang for an ambulance. Police also arrived at the house and the 58-year-old admitted he caused the injury.
Police then searched for the knife used in the assault, which they found in its sheath underneath a cushion in the living room. They also seized another knife of “such a size it gave cause for concern.”
Defence barrister Eilis McDermott QC said Mairs was a chronic alcoholic who began drinking at the age of nine.
She revealed that Mairs was a regular visitor at Foyle Haven and is currently staying at the House in the Wells making efforts to overcome his alcohol problem.
Handing down the suspended jail term, Judge Patrick Lynch QC said he was satisfied Mairs did not pose a significant risk of harm. He said it was a drunken assault and, while this didn't excuse Mairs’ behaviour, it was an ‘explanation’. He told him: “When you take alcohol you are not altogether responsible for your actions... you are a man who simply cannot drink.” The judge added: “To throw a knife of the type you did, a hunting or fishing knife, at another person - she was at risk of very serious harm and of losing her life.”
The full article contains 343 words and appears in Journal Tuesday Derry Edit newspaper.
