Co Armagh man gripped a woman's hair and hit her with the palm of his hand, Craigavon court hears

Ryce McClatchey, aged 24, from Tandragee, appeared before Craigavon Magistrates Court on Wednesday charged with common assault.

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McClatchey’s solicitor Mr Philip Reid said his client appeared for sentencing.

On March 14 last year at 12.05pm police were tasked to reports of an assault in the Oaklands area of Portadown.

The injured party told police her nephew, the defendant, arrived at the address following a "verbal altercation” between her and the defendant’s partner.

“The defendant has reportedly grabbed the injured party by the wrist, gripped her by the hair and hit her with the palm of his hand to the left cheek bone, while shouting at her, ‘how dare you square up to my fiancé and in front of my child’, and ‘you only think you know what it's like to be beaten by a man’ before leaving the property,” a Prosecutor told the court.

She added the injured party sustained "minor bruising and soreness”.

The Prosecutor told the court McClatchey attended Armagh Police Station on April 20 and denied assaulting the injured party at that stage.

Mr Reid said his client is a working man who comes before the court with no record. The solicitor pointed to the Pre-Sentence Report which alludes to "a bit of a background within the family”.

“There have been tensions ongoing. On this day his partner had gone to collect their child who was with other family members and there seemed to have been a bit of an argument between his partner and those family members,” said Mr Reid.

"He was called about it. And he's very clear about this, he says, he lost his temper, he ran in, and what has happened has happened.

"It's highly regrettable and inexcusable. It shouldn't have happened," he said, describing his client as a “bright man”.

He said the case was only contested because there was a “slight issue” over some of the facts but pointed out that no one had to give evidence as he had pleaded guilty.

“He is regretful and is of a low likelihood of reoffending,” he said. “This appears to be an incident which has been bubbling over and has got to this point.”

In response to a question from District Judge Michael Ranaghan Mr Reid said the child wasn’t present when the incident took place and described it as “very fast moving” from the CCTV coverage.

The District Judge said: “Any assault by a man on a woman, especially when there’s a familial relationship, is entirely wrong. You have no criminal record Mr McClatchey which means you are not going to prison today.”

He was given a 12 months Probation supervision order and ordered to carry out 60 hours Community Service.

"Hopefully it will let you see the error of your ways,” he said, adding that Probation will focus on the impact of his actions on the victim.