Courts

Man jailed for ‘ferocious assault’ on former partner while locked inside taxi

Judge tells victim ‘none of this is her fault’ as she sentences man who had ‘treated her like a possession’ to 11 years imprisonment

At the time of the assault Anthony Mockler was the subject of a safety order that obliged him to stay away from the woman. Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons

Colm Keena
Fri May 10 2024 - 15:48

A man has been jailed for 11 years for a “ferocious assault” on his former partner who he beat up for 10 minutes while locked inside a taxi with the gardaí and others outside calling on him to stop.

Anthony Mockler, of Station Road, Kildare, Co Kildare, who told the woman he was going to “destroy her face”, banged her head repeatedly off the footwell inside the car, leaving the woman with scars that a plastic surgeon said would be visible forever.

At the time of the assault Mockler was the subject of a safety order issued more than a year earlier that obliged him to stay away from the woman.

Judge Martina Baxter said Mockler, who been in a relationship with the woman for more than four years, had been sending “crude, sordid and distasteful” text messages to her that displayed evidence of jealousy and said he had “treated her like a possession to control and abuse”.

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The 31-year-old, who had pleaded guilty to serious assault, false imprisonment, and threatening to kill or cause serious injury to his former partner, and an assault on the woman’s woman friend, all at Basin Street, Naas, Co Kildare, on November 5th, 2023, had his sentence handed down on Friday at the Circuit Criminal Court in Naas.

Further charges of threatening to kill and breaching a four-year safety order secured by the woman in April 2022 were taken into account by Judge Baxter in deciding on the sentence.

On the night in question the victim had been out socialising with her friend. As she was leaving a nightclub Mockler arrived in a taxi. The taxi driver, who had brought Mockler to Naas from Newbridge, later told the gardaí his passenger had been “drunk and raging” during the trip.

Mockler followed the woman and pushed her into the back seat of the taxi, leaving the driver and the woman’s friend locked outside. Despite the gardaí arriving, Mockler carried out a “ferocious” assault on the woman that lasted 10 minutes, punching her repeatedly in the face and head and leaving blood and hair all over the back seat.

Judge Baxter described as “persistent, clearly harassing and coercive,” text messages later recovered by the gardaí which Mockler had been sending to the woman.

As well as sending crude and threatening text messages, Mockler had also said he was going to take his own life and that it would be the woman’s fault, the court heard.

Judge Baxter described the victim as a “very brave and strong woman” who had made clear to the court that she wasn’t going to allow the attack to define her. “None of this is her fault, none whatsoever.”

Mockler had nine previous convictions, including burglary of the woman’s family home when there were people at home. At the time of the assault, he had been ordered by the court to stay away from alcohol and illegal drugs.

Referring to his “angry, controlling and dangerous behaviour”, Judge Baxter acknowledge Mockler’s early guilty plea but said she had difficulty assessing whether his expressions of remorse were genuine.

Delivering a sentence of thirteen years with the last two suspended, Mockler was bound over upon release for three years to keeping the peace, staying away from his victim, staying away from alcohol and drugs, and attending any treatment courses recommended by the probation service.

Colm Keena

Colm Keena

Colm Keena is an Irish Times journalist. He was previously legal-affairs correspondent and public-affairs correspondent

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