No jail for man who assaulted pregnant girlfriend
Donegal man ‘said he was kicking wean out of’ partner
A MAN who threatened to kick the baby out of his pregnant partner has avoided jail.
John Latta, 33, put an iron bar to his pregnant girlfriend’s throat before pushing her to the ground and punching her in the stomach, a court heard.
‘He said he was kicking the wean out of me,’ Laura Cole told gardaí. ‘Wean’ is a colloquial Scottish word for baby.
The court previously heard Ms Cole was on the sofa with her young daughter, who had got out of bed, when Latta returned from the pub at around 3am.
Prosecution counsel Patricia McLaughlin said Latta then shouted at Ms Cole: ‘What are you doing up? What are you doing in this house, you b***h.’
‘He came in from the back hall with a bar and put it across Laura Cole’s and the child’s neck while he was roaring at them,’ Ms McLaughlin added. ‘Ms Cole was concerned about the kids and got out from under the bar. She asked the child to ring her mother. John Latta followed her, pushed her to the ground and punched her to the stomach area. He made some threats about what he would do to her mother.’
The court heard that Ms Cole was ‘distressed, tearful and very shaken and there was still blood on her clothes’ when she spoke to assault officerson Augustfour hours12 last. after Latta,the of Creatland, St Johnston, Co. Donegal, was arrested later that day and taken to Letterkenny Garda station, where he claimed Ms Cole had ‘made this up’ due to ‘some kind of vendetta’.
However, he later admitted to assaulting his then partner on the date in question.
‘When Mr Latta was arrested, he was non-committal and he alleged that she had made it all up,’ Judge John O’Hagan told Buncrana Circuit Court. ‘But he has pleaded guilty – in other words, they did happen.’ Ms Cole also alleges that Latta assaulted her again recently, on July 10. It was alleged that Latta ‘called her a useless b***h and gave her a black eye’ as she removed clothes from the drier. Ms Cole later received stitches to a 20cm wound on her head. On that occasion, she and her children sought refuge in Letterkenny.
The case had been adjourned at last month’s sitting of Letterkenny Circuit Court, when it was claimed that Latta and Ms Cole were living together in Co. Leitrim. As a result, Judge O’Hagan directed that Ms Cole appear to give evidence.
She was in court in Buncrana, where she said that she and Latta, with whom she has an 18-month-old child, have been apart since June. She suffered a miscarriage earlier this year, she said.that to O’Hagan ‘protect’his Despitemain handed considerationMs saying Cole, down yesterdaya Judgetwoand-a-halfwas to her year attacker. suspended sentence He ordered Latta to volunteer the sum of €100 to keep the peace for three years ‘and not to assault, cause harm or disturb Laura Cole’. Judge O’Hagan went on: ‘If he does not live up to that undertaking, she is entitled to make a complaint. In which case, he will serve the sentence.’ Defence counsel Peter Nolan said Latta owned a fuel station in St Johnston that had since closed. ‘He is seeking work and is attending courses to go back to work,’ he said. ‘He and Ms Cole have a child and he is happy to support and pay maintenance.’
‘He was roaring at them’
A MAN who threatened to ‘kick the wean’ out of his pregnant girlfriend, who held an iron bar to her neck, pushed her to the ground and kicked her, has escaped jail with a two-and-a-half year suspended sentence.
Judge John O’Hagan told John Latta he would serve it only if he did not keep the peace, or if he harmed or assaulted Laura Cole again.
Domestic violence is a huge problem in this country, especially when, as was the case here, alcohol is involved.
Women need to feel safe, and it is time we abandoned this softly-softly approach to sentencing and ensured that any man who harms a woman, or engages in violent assault against anyone, automatically goes to jail.
Anything less sends out a worryingly mixed signal.