Rory Mooney, 13 Nov
A 35-year-old man who admitted threatening a girl with a baseball bat
on her fifteenth birthday and then offering her a bribe of £1,000 to
withdraw her statement of complaint against him, has been jailed for
eighteen months at Derry Crown Court.
His mother received a suspended sentence for an assault charge related
to the same incident.
Jason Donaghey (35), who has 30 previous criminal convictions, several
of them for offences of violence, pleaded guilty to a single charge of
attempted grievous bodily harm with intent at the girl's home on
October 8 of last year.
He also admitted two charges of attempting to pervert the course of
justice by offering the girl the cash bribe the following day and of
repeating the offer by posting it on Facebook on October 12.
His mother Jackie Donaghey, 59, who also pleaded guilty to assaulting
the girl by scratching her on the face with her fingernails, was given
a seven month jail sentence, suspended for three years, and had a
Restraining Order imposed on her for five years.
A prosecution barrister told Judge Neil Rafferty K.C. that the assaults
took place when the complainant was entertaining guests at her birthday
party in her home.
"She was aware of her neighbours being outside her front door. She went
out to see Jackie Donaghey standing outside with her son Jason Donaghey
who was holding a baseball bat. She told the police that Jackie
Donaghey grabbed her and dug her nails into her face. To get Jackie
Donaghey to let go of her she struck out in self defence and at this
point Jason Donaghey threatened her with the baseball bat by holding it
up to her face", the prosecutor said.
The barrister said Donaghey then "begged her to accept the money" in
return for withdrawing her statement of complaint to the police.
Judge Rafferty said it was a nasty offence which involved a minor and
which included the threatening use of a baseball bat.
"The victim in this case is a stout hearted young lady and she is to be
commended for that", he said.
Addressing the victim who watched the proceedings on sightlink, the
Judge urged her to "become the author of your own story, not the story
of someone else".
Judge Rafferty added: "You have taken the time to write to me a
pre-sentence report. You said you were a bubbly, confident outgoing
young girl but now you feel sad, lonely and depressed. I absolutely
believe you. You were a fifteen years old girl and what happened to you
was totally wrong. But do not let that define you.
"We all go through in life things we would have preferred not to have
gone through but do not let yourself be shaped by whatever other people
did to you", he said.