A YOUNG DUBLIN man who burst his girlfriend’s eardrum in a beating which left her vomiting for a whole night has been sentenced to four and half years.

Garda Ronan Goggin said at an earlier hearing that Aaron Nolan (21) had punched, kicked and pulled clumps out of his then girlfriend’s hair as he dragged her over a green area and down a laneway.

The garda agreed with Brian Gageby BL, defending, that Nolan committed the assault on a “baseless” idea that his girlfriend had been texting another man.

The woman told gardaí that every time she denied this Nolan got angrier and would assault her further.

Nolan, of The Glen, Woodpark, Ballinteer, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two charges of assaulting the then 19-year-old woman at Ballinteer Crescent, Ballinteer, on November 5, 2017. He has no previous convictions.

Judge Melanie Greally had adjourned the case last January having heard the evidence to allow for the preparation of a report from the Probation Service.

Today,  she suspended the final 18 months of the four-and-a-half year sentence on strict conditions including that Nolan be under supervision of the Probation Service for two years, have no contact with his victim for that time and attend a domestic violence perpetrator programme if deemed suitable.

She said the woman had returned home from the assault in “an appalling state” and was vomiting and experiencing extreme headaches.

She said there was “no doubt” that his attack on her had “an extremely damaging effect on her both emotionally and psychologically”.

“It came somewhat out of the blue. He had been someone on whom she had been dependant and she had no expectation that he was capable of this. No doubt it will take her some time to come back from it,” Judge Greally said.

She said it was a succession of assaults over a prolonged period of time with extreme violence which was often “concentrated” on the woman’s head and face.

Today, Mr Gageby read from a letter from his client to the woman in which he expressed his remorse telling her he was “so, so sorry” and “I hope you go back to your happy self”.

In a letter to the judge, Nolan wrote that he was truly ashamed of what he had done.

“I hope to tackle my demons head on when I get released from prison. The happiest years of my life were the seven years with her,” Nolan wrote.

He said he had thrown away seven years of good times with her and he had “only myself to blame”.

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