A man who attacked his wife and two-year-old son, causing the toddler to fall backwards and hit his head on a coffee table, has been sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for two years.

Antanas Pailauskas, of The Carn, Ederney, was also ordered to pay his victims “nominal” compensation of £200 each after he appeared at Fermanagh Court and admitted unlawfully assaulting them.

A prosecutor explained that on February 15, police received a 999 call from a woman using the land line at Pailauskas’s home in Ballinamallard. The woman abandoned the call but officers called at the house and she told them her partner, Pailauskas, had attacked her and their child. She said he had been drinking and had assaulted her and their two-year-old son, causing the toddler to fall back and hit his head on a coffee table. Pailauskas was arrested and admitted there had been an argument but denied the assaults.

A defence barrister said he had to accept there was very little that could be said in mitigation. Pailauskas’s memory of the day was vague but the assaults were entirely admitted and he accepted his behaviour was wrong and inappropriate. He could be very thankful the injuries were no more than bruising and the effects would be short-lived.

The barrister said Pailauskas has been here since 2005, constructively employed in the local community and providing for his family.

Speaking through an interpreter, Deputy District Judge Liam McStay pointed out that Pailauskas had only admitted his guilt on the day his trial was due to start. He therefore automatically lost any credit.

He referred to a pre-sentence report by a probation officer in which Pailauskas on the one hand said he had no difficulty with alcohol and then on the other gave alcohol as his only explanation for what happened.

The Deputy District Judge said if someone was repeatedly coming before the court for committing violent offences under the influence of alcohol “he has a serious alcohol problem and needs to address that”.

He said what made this case particularly serious was that it was a domestic incident and his child not only witnessed it but was a direct victim.

“That puts the case firmly at the custodial level,” he stated.

He said he recognised that Pailauskas has a “limited” criminal record, pleaded guilty and is complying with a domestic violence prevention plan. In the circumstances “I will stay my hand” and suspend the prison sentence.

He also made a Restraining Order prohibiting Pailauskas from intimidating, harassing or pestering his former wife for the next two years.