A 32-year-old man who attacked his wife in her bedroom was kicked between the legs and bitten on the wrists by her as she tried to escape, Fermanagh Court has heard.

Kieran Corrigan, of Killyvilly, Enniskillen, admitted assaulting Helen Corrigan and damaging her mobile phone.

He was sentenced to three months in prison, suspended for 12 months.

A prosecutor told the court that on Tuesday, March 11, police responded to an emergency 999 call from Corrigan’s wife to an on-going domestic incident at a house at Cavandale in Enniskillen. Officers arrived to find Corrigan coming out the front door. He was agitated and carrying a hold-all which appeared to contain his belongings. His wife told police she had been upstairs in bed when Corrigan came into the room around 11pm and said he wanted to sort matters out. She explained that the relationship had been strained prior to this and she hadn’t spoken to him in a couple of days. He grabbed the tablet computer she was holding in her hands and she tried to distract him and get out the door. However, he got to the door first. She asked him to let her out but he refused. She kicked him between the legs as hard as she could in an attempt to distract him. He grabbed her by the throat and lifted her on to the bed. She broke free but he again got to the bedroom door before she did.

The prosecutor said Corrigan’s wife told police her husband grabbed her by the throat and put her in a choke lock. She reached out for her mobile phone, which was sitting on a bedside locker, and during the ensuing struggle she bit him on both wrists. He took the phone from her and threw it, smashing it against a wall. He pushed her back with both hands and she then head-butted him. He left and she went down to the kitchen. He returned and began packing his belongings. He left as the police arrived.

Corrigan was subsequently interviewed by the police. He claimed he was the injured party and his wife was the aggressor. He said that when he went to speak to her “all hell broke loose” and that she had jumped up out of the bed and head-butted him. However, he refused to make a formal complaint against her.

Defence solicitor Michelle McVeigh said Corrigan was attempting to “try and clear the air” and resolve the situation. The injured party, in her own evidence, said she hit him first. She told police she had known Corrigan for six years and he was not a violent man.

“Initially his actions were in self-defence but we accept he went beyond that,” stated Miss McVeigh.

“He sustained quite serious injuries at the hands of the alleged victim,” she added.

Miss McVeigh told the court there was no prospect of a reconciliation and Corrigan and his wife are now separated.

Deputy District Judge Laura Ievers told Corrigan the court was concerned that the incident took place in his former wife’s own room “where she was entitled to feel safe”.