Co Antrim man avoids jail after assaulting and threating to slit pregnant partner’s throat

Sean McCarthy, from Linenhall Street in the town, had entered guilty pleas to three offences arising from the incident on August 10 last year including assault, making a threat to kill and threatening to damage property.

On Thursday a prosecuting lawyer told Ballymena Magistrates Court how the victim, who was eight months pregnant at the time, was at home when a drunken McCarthy called at her home around 6pm.

He became angry and aggressive as the pair argued about him being able to see the baby after it was born and he made a grab at her, trying to put her in a headlock.

McCarthy “threatened that he would smoke her out and said he would slit her throat and watch her bleed out in front of her son,” said the lawyer, revealing that McCarthy has a previous conviction for assaulting a different former partner.

Describing the incident as “simply appalling and disgusting,” District Judge Austin Kennedy told McCarthy the question for him was whether to jail the 32-year-old or to suspend the sentence.

Imposing a four-month sentence but suspending it for two years, the judge warned McCarthy “if this happens again you are going straight to prison.”

Defence counsel Neil Moore immediately conceded “it’s an abhorrent set of facts and the defendant himself is appalled at his behaviour”.

Highlighting that McCarthy “made full and frank admissions” when he was questioned by police, the barrister said the incident had been “fuelled by alcohol” but that McCarthy hasn’t drank alcohol since the offence.

“In sobriety he is apologetic for what he has done and he has changed his lifestyle in the last five months and has proved that he is a man who can offer something to society,” Mr Moore submitted.

In addition to the suspended prison sentence, McCarthy was ordered to pay a £300 fine.