Portadown man accused of pouring boiling water over partner claims her injuries were 'self-inflicted'
A man has denied causing his former partner severe burns by pouring a kettle of boiling water over her.
Standing in the dock of Craigavon Crown Court, the 48-year-old entered not guilty pleas to each of the four charges against him.
With each of the offences alleged to be aggravated by reason of domestic abuse, David McAdams, of Teagy Road, Portadown, is charged with attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm with intent, causing actual bodily harm, common assault and damaging the complainant’s phone.
When McAdams was initially charged, the court heard the complainant’s mother had contacted police as a result of a 4am phone call with the defendant on December 28, 2025.
"She could hear her daughter in the background, she was hysterical and was shouting for the defendant to turn the camera on and show her mother what he had done,” a detective told the court during an earlier hearing.
The investigator said when police arrived, McAdams told officers ‘she’s crazy and that he wanted to leave, and to take him to the cells’.
On speaking to the injured party, officers could see there was “extensive reddening” to her face, neck and arm which were starting to blister.
She told police that after McAdams started “calling her a whore, slut and a skank,” she told him to leave and although he did, he took her phone and the complainant went to bed.
Around 3am, however, she was awoken as McAdams had come back in, and he allegedly “dragged her out of bed by the hair and trailed her to the kitchen”.
She asked him to return her phone and when McAdams threw it back at her, the complainant noticed the screen was damaged.
He was again calling her abusive names, and then is alleged to have “grabbed the boiling kettle and threw it over her, causing burns to her face, arm and neck area”.
The police previously stated the complainant is “terrified” of what could happen should McAdams be released.
On Friday, defence KC Michael Chambers told Judge Neil Rafferty KC that although the defence statement has not yet been formalised, McAdams contends the woman’s injuries “were self-inflicted”.
Remanding McAdams in continuing custody, Judge Rafferty scheduled the trial for March next year with a review of the case on November 12.