A “martial arts expert” who punched his pregnant wife leaving her unconscious and fractured her jaw, has been jailed for three years.
Muhammed Tajik (28) pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to assault causing harm to Susan Walmsley at a flat on Lower Rathmines Road, Dublin on December 8th, 2015.
Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said Ms Walmsley was “an innocent victim in the fullest sense” and “had fallen into the hands of a man of a very violent disposition.”
He described the case as “a particularly serious example of domestic violence, perpetrated by the victim’s husband, someone from whom she was entitled to expect a high degree of respect.”
The court heard that on the day of the assault, Ms Walmsley, who met her estranged husband online, had started a new job, and this led to a dispute between the couple.
At a previous hearing Garda John Freeney told Seán Gillane SC, prosecuting, that the defendant “grabbed Ms Walmsley’s neck from behind, punching her in the head and face until she passed out.”
The court heard when the victim regained consciousness, Tajik, an Afghani national, told her she needed to go to hospital after they had an argument.
He drove her to A&E where she was treated for a fractured jaw, an injured eye socket, a wound over her left eye and a swollen neck.
Text message
Mr Gillane read out a text sent by the defendant to Ms Walmsley on the night of the assault in which he expressed his remorse.
“Go baby, go far from me where you’re safe,” he wrote.
He sent lilies to his wife in hospital with a handwritten note the day after the assault the court heard.
Patrick Gageby SC, defending, said Tajik was in a new relationship and was expecting a baby with his partner. He said the defendant, who is of no fixed address, has no previous convictions and should be given credit for his apologies and his remorse.
Mr Gageby said Tajik applied for asylum in Ireland in September 2015, and has been unable to work since then.
In a victim impact statement, Ms Walmsley, a mother of two, told the court she only feels safe when alone and finds it impossible to trust others.
“He was so calm when he was punching me, I truly believed I would die that night,” she said. “As he is a martial arts expert he knew what techniques to use to do the most damage to me. I received the injuries because I wanted to leave, I had enough.”
Ms Walmsley said the pain she experienced was worse than childbirth, and rendered her unable to wash her teeth or lie on a pillow for weeks afterwards.
She said she has felt suicidal since the assault and has suffered flashbacks, high levels of anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder.
‘Brutality’
Sentencing Tajik, Mr Justice McCarthy referred to the “the extent of brutality” used in the course of the assault. He said the fact the couple had argued about the victim’s new job and a burnt pizza demonstrated the offence was in no sense explicable in terms of provocation.
He sentenced him to three years in jail and said that the crime merited a heavy custodial sentence.
Speaking outside court Ms Walmsley (38) said she was very surprised at the length of the sentence imposed on Tajik as it was a lot more than she was expecting. She said she found the trial extremely difficult.
“Everywhere I go there’s a memory of what happened, a smell that brings it all back to me,” she said.
Ms Walmsley urged other victims of domestic physical and psychological abuse to seek help.
“When someone is controlling and manipulating you they cut you off from everybody. It’s so difficult to get away but you don’t have to put up with it,” she said.
“It never gets better, they promise they’ll be good but two weeks later it’s 10 times worse. The pattern will continue until it comes to the point that you think they’re going to kill you.”