A young woman who was kicked and punched by her ex-boyfriend was “unable to move for two weeks,” Derry Magistrates Court has heard.
Graham Leper, of Stevenson Park, failed to appear for his trial at Derry Magistrates Court this morning to contest four assault charges against him.
After being informed the accused had been in the court building but had left, Resident Magistrate Barney McElholm ordered the case to go ahead in his absence.
Giving evidence, Leper’s ex-girlfriend told the court a five or six year relationship between pair ended in December last year.
She said while attending a wedding in the Waterfoot Hotel on 7 June this year, she received a text message from the accused to go to his home. She said when she arrived, she “stumbled” into the accused’s bedroom and in doing so knocked over a “smoking bong.”
As a result, she told the court Leper started screaming at her before punching her on the nose. She said she ran from the room with her face covered in blood.
She further told the court she was at Brigade Cricket Club on 14 July and the accused kept walking up and down passed her. She said she left to go out for a meal with her mother after which she received a text message from the accused looking for her to give him a lift.
She told the court she agreed to give Leper the lift but when they got to his house he refused to get out of the car. She said she ran into the house and that the accused followed her and grabbed her “by the scruff of the neck” before forcing her to the ground and jumping on top of her.
The witness said after Leper was pulled off her by his father she ran from the house but that she fell and when the accused came out he kicked in the ribs.
She told the court as a result of the attack, she was unable to move for two weeks, sustained a black ear, bumps to her head, bruising to her legs and a bruised rib cage.
Resident Magistrate Barney McElholm convicted Leper in his absence. Issuing an arrest warrant, Mr McElholm said he needed to have the accused before him before he could pass sentence.
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