Man who stabbed woman with scissors gets jail sentence in Derry

James Doherty (23) of Deramore Drive in Derry had denied two assaults on April 2 and one on March 10 last year.

He did not turn up for his contest and was convicted in his absence.

On Friday, the court was told that the injured party, now a former partner, had been asleep in bed on April 2 when Doherty woke her up and was 'immediately hostile'.

He shouted at her to leave before striking her with a closed fist in the face.

The victim went down the stairs and came back up to see if Doherty had calmed down. She was rolling a cigarette when she felt a sharp pain in her buttocks and an examination revealed he had stabbed her with a small pair of scissors.

When she challenged Doherty, the court was told he said 'I got away with stabbing someone before and I will again.'

The woman phoned police and also disclosed Doherty had assaulted her on March 10 by punching her to the face.

Defence solicitor Keith Kyle said that as his client had not co-operated with probation, the options before the court were 'limited'.

The solicitor said that the assaults occurred when Doherty was abusing substances and that he was now clean.

District Judge Barney McElholm said that there was no pre-sentence report because Doherty 'could not be bothered'.

He said there was a long history of domestic abuse towards the same injured party.

He sentenced Doherty to five months in prison and imposed a Restraining Order for five years.