A convicted sex offender who killed his girlfriend's two dogs and then threatened to kill her has been jailed for seven years by Judge Sean O Donnabhain.
Patrick Nevin asked Ms Jennifer Arkins how she would like to die - either by choking or stabbing - when he subjected her to a terrifying ordeal of choking, hitting her with a brick, kicking her in the head, punching her, and spitting in her face. Ms Arkins suffered a fractured skull and serious cuts and bruises to her face.
Nevin (20), from St Michael's Terrace, D·n Laoghaire, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Ms Arkins and to threatening to kill or cause her serious injury on February 16th, 2001. "This was a prolonged and violent assault that had some considerable premeditation and I'm sure when you took the lives of her two dogs you knew they were very close to her," Judge ╙ Donnabhain said.
He said Nevin had done Ms Arkins "serious and permanent harm" and her trauma could last for a long time. "You have previous convictions for violence against women and I have no evidence before me to suggest you will not harm women again," he added.
Sgt Michael O'Brien told Mr Brendan Grehan, prosecuting, that Nevin and Ms Arkins both worked for a company which held a function on the night of February 16th last in Synnott's pub on North King Street.
There was an election for male and female hearthrob of the company to coincide with the St Valentine's weekend. Ms Arkins won the female category and Nevin became incensed when there was a suggestion that she would have to go for dinner with her co-winner. This lead to them having a fight in the pub.
Ms Arkins later returned to the house at St Brigid's Avenue, North Strand, that she shared with Nevin. She was confronted by the sight of her two dogs lying dead in the hall.
Nevin then launched into a violent and savage attack on her. He had previously been jailed for sexual assault and oral rape.