An Omagh man has been remanded in custody after a “horrifying and harrowing” attack on his partner was captured on video by the woman’s teenage daughter.
Ryan Lynch (30) from Edinburgh Park is accused of non-fatal strangulation, false imprisonment, assaults, and abusive behaviour causing physical or psychological harm.
A detective constable told Enniskillen Magistrates Court all charges could be connected.
The court heard police were contacted on 4 January by the teenager about an ongoing domestic incident in which Lynch was attacking her mother who was unconscious.
There had been a verbal altercation when the woman woke Lynch who was sleeping on the sofa, who engaged accused her of having her ex-partner in the house.
While another male was present, this was the daughter’s boyfriend.
The woman told Lynch to leave and went upstairs but he followed pushed her into the bathroom and locked the door.
She then claimed Lynch dragged her down the stairs by her hair where the assault continued.
The daughter described trying to intervene and in the course of this observed Lynch closing a door on her mother’s head while holding her by the neck with his left hand.
He went outside where the woman again told him to leave, but he pushed her against a fence and pulled her hair.
The daughter, who had begun videoing the situation on her phone, observed her mother holding a clump of her hair which Lynch allegedly pulled out.
Terrified, the daughter lifted a handful of pebbles and told Lynch she would throw them at him if didn’t stop assaulting her mother.
However he charged at the woman, pushing her into a door before she fell to the ground and struck her head.
The teenager tried to get her mother up but she was unconscious.
Meanwhile she locked Lynch outside where he “paced up and down in anger” but was gone when police arrived.
He returned demanding his clothes and was arrested.
The detective said, “The daughter’s video is harrowing to watch. It shows the defendant violently swinging the injured party by her hair. During this the daughter and her boyfriend are screaming at him to stop.
“He then violently shoves the injured party into the front door at which point the daughter drops the phone and runs to care for her mother who had been knocked unconscious.”
During interview Lynch denied all allegations insisting he only pushed the woman back when she woke him by striking his head with a hairbrush and he left immediately afterwards.
The detective continued, “When shown the video he laughed and admitted pushing the woman but said police should be asking why he did. He maintained all allegations are false and showed no remorse whatsoever.”
In seeking bail the defence said: “An account was given in interview and all allegations are denied unequivocally.”
District Judge Alana McSorley remarked, “This was a horrifying incident of domestic violence and thankfully there is other evidence. I’m stating now that consideration should be given by the PPS to progress this in crown court.”
Bail was refused and Lynch will appear again but video-link at Omagh Magistrates Court on 21 January.