A 24-year-old Derry man has appeared at the city’s Magistrates Court accused of telling his ex-partner that he would ‘cut her up’ if she refused to allow him to see their children.
Dermot O’Donnell-Kearney, of Camelia Court, was charged with assault, threats to kill and possession of cannabis on Sunday last, November 8.
The court heard police received a report of a domestic abuse incident at Barnewall Place at 6.25am.
When they arrived they found a distressed but uninjured woman.
She told police she had gotten into an argument with her ex-partner, O’Donnell-Kearney, who grabbed her arm and told her, ‘I’ll f****** kill you if you take my son away, I’ll cut you up’.
A police officer told the court that O’Donnell-Kearney had been on bail for other offences and had breached these conditions by contacting the injured party.
Police asked that O’Donnell-Kearney be remanded in custody as the breach of bail was almost immediate after his release.
Seamus Quigley, defence solicitor, said tO’Donnell-Kearney accepted he and the mother of his two children, who are both under three-years-old, had a heated argument and that he had been slapped in the face.
He said he pushed her away when she slapped him but denied threatening to kill her.
Mr Quigley added O’Donnell-Kearney’s parents were willing to offer their son a bail address but asked that the court put some conditions on him before it was granted.
District Judge Barney McElholm granted O’Donnell-Kearney his own bail of £500 to reside at Camelia Court.
Speaking directly to the accused, Judge McEholm said:: “I want to make this very, very clear, if you make any attempt to contact the injured party, whether or not you succeed, I will revoke your bail and you will be remanded in custody.”
The matter will be back before the court again on December 10 next.