A court also heard the accused is also alleged to have threatened to kill the woman’s unborn baby
A man allegedly attacked his heavily-pregnant partner by trying to press her face down on to a hot cooker, a police officer claimed in court.
Detective Constable Coulter further claimed that during the incident, Luke Curry “grabbed her baby bump forcefully…digging firmly in with his finger and threatened that he would ‘kill the wean’.”
Appearing at Coleraine Magistrates Court on Monday by video link from police custody, 30-year-old Curry was charged with seven offences, all alleged to have been committed on 2 August this year.
Curry, from Woodvale Mews in Derry, faces two charges of attempted grievous bodily harm with intent, two charges of criminal damage and three of common assault.
Objecting to bail, DC Coulter outlined how police received a 999 call concerning an ongoing incident at the alleged victim’s home in Limavady.
Curry, described by the officer as intoxicated, met the police at the front door and after he was put into the back of a police vehicle, officers spoke to the complainant.
The complainant, who is 32 weeks pregnant, told police there had been an argument as she was cooking but that “the argument escalated to the defendant grabbing her by the face and trying to push her down on to the hot hob that she had been using to cook dinner.”
Feeling the heat getting close to her face, she “dropped to her knees to avoid getting burned” but Curry, the officer claimed, started throwing plates around the kitchen.
“She threw a plate back at him in self-defence,” said the officer adding that it was at this point that Curry allegedly “grabbed her baby bump forcefully…digging firmly in with his finger and threatened that he would ‘kill the wean’.”
She managed to dial 999 and during the recording, she can be heard asking Curry to leave but the 30-year-old, “can be heard laughing at her”.
“The injured party has been deemed as high risk of domestic abuse,” DC Coulter told District Judge Peter King, adding that Curry “has been assessed as a high risk perpetrator.”
He said police were objecting to bail because “police believe the defendant is clearly a threat to both the injured party and her unborn child.”
Describing the incident as a “particularly concerning assault,” the detective revealed that the assault had persisted even though there was another young child in the house at the time.
Highlighting that the complainant “is a vulnerable female” and that both she and her unborn child need protection, the officer emphasised how Curry could be heard “aggressively laughing” at her during the 999 call.
Defence counsel Stephen Chapman submitted that with a clear record, no history of domestic violence and a proposed bail address in Eglinton, “the court could impose stringent conditions” in order to grant bail.
Judge King said while he obviously accepts that Curry enjoys a presumption of innocence, “what is striking is the allegation of gross violence, both in terms of the complainant and her unborn child.”
The judge said he was refusing bail due to a number of reasons including that he was not satisfied the bail address was far enough away, the vulnerability of the complainant and the “gross violence” threatened against her and the baby gives rise to a concern of witness interference.
“I may be persuaded [to grant bail] after the child is born but he is not suitable for bail at this stage,” said Judge King.
Curry was remanded into custody and the case adjourned to August 27.
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