Cookstown man accused of kicking heavily pregnant partner in stomach in bid to destroy her unborn child
A Co Tyrone man allegedly kicked his heavily pregnant partner in the stomach in a bid to destroy her unborn child, the High Court has been told.
Ryan Dobson is accused of launching the drunken attack on the woman after she had challenged him about suspected contact with escorts.
The 26-year-old farm labourer, whose address is listed as Feegaran Road in Cookstown, was granted bail on Tuesday (November 17) under strict orders not to go near the complainant.
The defendant denies charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, non-fatal strangulation and attempted child destruction in the early hours of July 13 this year.
Prosecutors claimed that violence had flared after Dobson had been drinking all day for the Twelfth of July celebrations.
“She stated she had found messages that he was contacting escorts and woke him up to confront him about this,” a Crown lawyer told the court.
In an account to police, the woman said Dobson had dragged her out of bed by the hair and kicked her to the head repeatedly as she pleaded with him to stop.
“She stated that he then kicked her in the stomach, outlining that she was 35-weeks pregnant at the time,” counsel added.
“He grabbed her around the throat and squeezed, and remembers struggling to breathe.”
The woman was taken to hospital, where she was treated for abdominal trauma and a suspected broken jaw, the court heard.
It was confirmed to the court that the woman subsequently gave birth to a healthy baby.
Photographs were also taken of the blood-stained bedroom where the alleged assault took place.
During police interviews Dobson provided a pre-prepared statement in which he protested his innocence, the court was told.
Claiming that the woman had spotted something on his phone and had attacked him as he was sleeping, the defendant insisted: “I certainly didn’t hit her, I certainly didn’t try to harm an unborn baby.”
Defence barrister Michael Boyd argued there was a scuffle or altercation as Dobson tried to defend himself.
“She was angry at what she had found on his phone, dating back to what was described as a boys’ trip over to Liverpool when some of the others had been using his phone to look up escorts,” Mr Boyd submitted to the court.
Describing the allegations being made in the case as “truly shocking”, Mr Justice McLaughlin warned the court that anyone convicted of an attack on an unborn child would face the most severe of penalties.
However, based on the defendant’s employment and his lack of any previous violent offending, the judge ruled that any risk can be managed.
He granted the defendant bail under a series of conditions, including a curfew and a ban on either contacting the alleged victim or entering the village where she lives.
Imposing a further prohibition on any alcohol, Mr Justice McLaughlin added: “It is not disputed that Mr Dobson had been out drinking during the Twelfth of July public holiday and this occurred the day after.”