A Mullingar man has been jailed for three years for assaulting his teenage daughter by striking her with the buckle of a dog lead.
Peter Donoghue (43), of O'Connell Terrace, Mullingar, told Judge Patrick McCartan there would be "no justice in this country until we get rid of all the people who don't believe in God. I can go and meet my Maker knowing because I never allowed my family to get into bad company and drink and drugs," he shouted in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court before making derogatory comments about social workers involved in the case.
Donoghue was convicted in November of assaulting his 17-year-old daughter causing her harm at Sarsfield Park, Lucan, on a date between September to December 1997.
Judge McCartan told Donoghue he was shocked that, in a letter supporting him, a Westmeath-based nun repeated "almost to a word your lying testimony to the jury. I don't know how this was arrived at. There is something fundamentally odd about it," he added.
He said Donoghue had a record of violence and had been before the courts five times. Judge McCartan also noted what he called "the degree of vitriol" shown against the victim by Donoghue, his wife and all the other members of their family who gave evidence. He could not accept their evidence that Donoghue was a caring and loving parent in the light of medical evidence which showed the victim suffered a considerable degree of neglect. Judge McCartan added there was "clear and unambiguous" evidence on which the jury rightly convicted him of the assault which left his daughter with lacerations to her skull, face and abdomen.
The jury had rejected other allegations made by the victim but accepted her evidence on the assault.
Mr Barry White SC, defending, submitted that it was impossible to determine on what evidence the jury had convicted Donoghue. He suggested the court treat the matter on the "lower end of the scale".
Mr White added that the jury had rejected the allegations that Donoghue threw his then three-year-old daughter into the fire and that he had scalded her. The jury had also rejected other substantial allegations.