A YOUNG man from a “difficult background” has been accused of attacking his barrister ex-girlfriend and breaking her wrist after she ended their relationship.

Sam Maughan (20) is alleged to have returned to the lawyer’s Dublin apartment, forced his way in and assaulted her days after she told him she did not want to see him anymore.

He was refused bail at Dublin District Court after the alleged victim gave evidence against him, saying she was in fear of him.

She wore a cast and sling on her right arm in court.

Mr Maughan, of Huntstown Rise, Mulhuddart is charged with one count of assault causing harm to the woman at her apartment in Dublin 8 on July 5.

Judge Timothy Lucey remanded the defendant in custody to appear again in Cloverhill District Court.

Objecting to bail, the prosecuting garda said the woman, who did not initially appear in court due to work commitments, had alleged Mr Maughan forced his way into the apartment at 10am, struck her in the face, knocked her down and grabbed her wrist, which fractured.

The garda said he believed the accused could try to contact the alleged victim or commit offences if granted bail.

Later, the woman arrived in court to give evidence. She said of the alleged assault: “I was knocked to the ground, I banged my head, I went into the bedroom, where my wrist was twisted back and my face was hit.”

She said she had to call the gardai a number of times to get the accused removed from her apartment.

She alleged he came to the apartment after she returned from hospital and left before the gardai arrived.

He was ringing the buzzer, shouting “Please let me in,” she alleged. She also said he approached her in Heuston Station after the alleged assault and she ran back to her apartment.

Cross-examined by Defence Solicitor Michael Kelleher, she denied telling the accused she was pregnant.

“I asked him to leave, I told him I was finished with him and I wanted him to stay away from me,” she said.

She said it had been an "on-off" three-month relationship and the accused had stayed over at her apartment but they were “never living together.”

Mr Kelleher said that the relationship had become public knowledge and this was “professionally embarrassing” to the woman.

“That is not the case, I was never embarrassed about anything,” she said.

She also alleged that last Friday, "he said he was going to lock me in my apartment and burn it down with me in it."

The accused claimed the woman had told him she was pregnant. He said he now “totally accepted” the relationship was over.

“If bail conditions said I had to move to Australia to get as far as I could away from her, I would do that,” he said. "I'm done with her."

He rejected her evidence and alleged she had lied under oath and had been contacting him. He alleged it was she approached him at Heuston Station.

He denied assaulting her and said he had been telling her he “wanted things to work out.”

“I know she deserves a better boyfriend than me,” he added.

Mr Kelleher said the defendant was someone who had “overestimated” the relationship and clung onto it because he saw it as more serious than it was.

He said the accused was willing to stay away from the woman and the gardai could monitor this.

“It’s more like a soap than a bail application,” Judge Lucey said.

He said each party was denying what the other said and “in terms of credibility I think I am inclined to believe her.”

Online Editors