Woman jumped from Dublin balcony to avoid abusive boxer boyfriend, court hears

Niamh O’Donoghue

A woman jumped from a Dublin city centre balcony the week before Christmas to escape “a talented boxer” who was her then partner, a court has heard.

Michael Ward (44) was jailed at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for four-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to assault causing harm at an apartment on Parnell Street on December 16th, 2023.

The court heard the woman was aged 19 at the time and was so afraid of Ward, who had locked her into the apartment and wouldn’t let her escape, that she jumped from the first-floor balcony.

Part of the incident was recorded on a phone by a witness who heard a woman shouting.

Ward, of Parnell Street, Dublin 1, was also sentenced for another assault on the same woman and was on bail at the time of the offence.

Ward has 53 previous convictions. He got his first job in 2019 working in security, the court heard.

Garda Cian Rochford told Fiona McGowan BL, prosecuting, that on December 16th, 2023, gardaí were alerted to a disturbance between a man and a woman on the balcony of an apartment on Parnell Street in the inner city.

He hit the woman, and when she tried to get out, he tried to stop her leaving by hitting her on the legs. She jumped from the first-floor balcony. She managed to get up and was hiding under a parked car on Gardiner Street.

She had a seizure, which was unrelated to the assault, and was taken to the Mater Hospital. The court heard the pair had been drinking.

The court heard the couple had been in a relationship since summer 2023. Her parents lived outside the city and she had been spending more and more time with Ward in his apartment where he lived with his son.

She said she was trying to leave, but he put away the keys and pushed her down. He was punching her in the face and then put his forearm around up to her throat, and she said it went on for up to a minute.

She was banging on the door and shouting and screaming.

She made one or two attempts to get out and jumped out onto the street. She said she re “landing out onto the road” and had pain to the right side of her body.

Garda Jennifer Hyland gave evidence of a second assault on March 3rd, 2024 in which a witness heard a female screaming. The witness identified the apartment and when gardaí knocked on the door, he said he couldn’t find the key.

Ward said he’d had a fight with his teenage son and denied there was a woman present. Gardaí saw a mattress blocking the door of the bedroom.

They went in and found the woman unconscious, and she was having an epileptic fit.

She managed to come around and had red marks to her neck and chin. He had headbutted her and had his hands around her neck during the assault.

Despite his bail conditions, she continued to see him. She said she was going to leave the next day and then sustained the prolonged assault.

He threatened her with a pliers and said he was going to kill her. He then got on top of her started to choke her, the court heard.

Ward was arrested but was so intoxicated he was unfit for questioning.

Mr Pieter Le Vert BL defending said Ward was a “talented boxer”. He left school at 14 and his parents wanted him to box rather than to go to school.

Counsel said his client had grown up in extreme poverty. He started using cannabis when he was 12, moved to the UK and lived a nomadic life.

He became addicted to cocaine at 16, and by 1,8 he was a full-blown poly-substance ab.

He obtained sobriety and in 2019 started working for the first time, taking up employment as a security guard. He did an addiction course in Carlow IT. In July 2023, he fell back into addiction. He has been in custody since March 2024.

“He’s devastated about what he did to this lady,” Mr Le Vert said.

Judge Nolan said the woman was badly attacked when “he headbutted her, tried to strangle her and probably kicked her” so badly she jumped off the balcony. “Mr Ward has his own history,” said the judge.

He said he is a talented and intelligent man with the ambition of educating himself.

He said an assault of that nature would usually carry a penalty of 10 years, and an aggravating factor was that they were in a relationship.

Judge Nolan noted his remorse and his plea of guilty.

He imposed a global sentence of seven years for the two assaults, but having heard mitigation, he reduced it to four-year-and-half years and backdated it for time spent in custody.