Reporting by Tom Tuite
A man has been jailed for eight years following years of brutal assaults and controlling behaviour, and after posting intimate images of his ex-girlfriend on social media and with her family – in addition to forcing her to undergo an abortion.
Judge Keenan Johnson said on Wednesday that Blaine Parker, 24, of Clonybane, Ballymore, Co. Westmeath, treated the young woman “like a punchbag” for years, and he singled out the impact of misogynistic online influencers on young men for scathing criticism.
Parker can now be named after his victim indicated she wanted him identified at Mullingar Circuit Criminal Court, where Judge Johnson described it as the worst domestic violence case he had seen.
He praised the traumatised victim for coming forward despite Parker’s efforts to manipulate, dominate and get her to drop the charges.
Parker admitted assault causing harm and publishing intimate images of her while staying in a hotel in February 2025.
He also entered guilty pleas to nine more offences on a second indictment. They involved five incidents of assault causing harm mainly at his home address, causing criminal damage to her phone, and threatening to kill or cause her serious harm, on dates beginning in 2022 and continuing through the following years into early 2025.
It emerged in the proceedings that the young woman was the victim of a litany of vicious assaults, and felt compelled to have an abortion after Parker, a broke and indebted drug addict, threatened to “kick the child out of you”.
Sentencing, Judge Johnson said the persistence and savagery of the assaults and mental abuse were particularly aggravating factors, the threats to kill were multiple and serious, and the publication of her images was disgraceful and demeaning.
Parker, dressed in a grey tracksuit, sat silently as the judge imposed consecutive jail terms totalling 10 years, with the final two suspended for five years with strict conditions including no contact with his ex-girlfriend, whom he terrorised for five and a half years. There was a five-year concurrent sentence for sharing her pictures.
The sentence was backdated to February last year when he was remanded in custody.
Judge Johnson noted Parker had been in the throes of heavy cocaine and ketamine addiction and said the prevalence of these types of cases was a shocking blight on modern society, with the internet playing a role.
“It appears the growth of domestic violence, particularly among young men is fed not only by substance abuse but also by exposure from the internet’s so-called influencers who propagate a misogynistic philosophy which encourages men, especially young men, to disrespect women and encourages domination by males over females. Cases like this highlight the need for respect, consideration, generosity and non-violence to be the core values to be inculcated in every citizen from a young age.”
The court heard that for the first six months the relationship had been fine but he then began verbally abusing her in public, which escalated to drug-fuelled fits of rage.
At first, she did not say anything, mainly through a combination of fear and affection. Aside from the multiple assault charges before the court, the young woman believes there could have been up to 30 other assaults, but she could not remember the dates.
She witnessed Parker’s sentencing with the support of her family in the public gallery, with the court hearing of her persistent fears that he would seek revenge on release.
Now drug-free, Parker apologised in court despite showing “zero remorse” at all stages before the sentence hearing. A spousal assault risk assessment undertaken by the Probation Service found that he remained a continued risk of intimate partner violence, requiring high-level intervention.
Judge Johnson sympathised with his parents, who wrote in a letter that their son was a good and helpful child who loved sailing and horse-riding. But, they said, he spiralled out of control through drug addiction, and those around him were powerless to help.
He noted that his young woman thought they were in love, but afterwards, she could see he was manipulating and using her.
In her victim impact statement, the woman depicted the relationship, which began when she was in her teens, as a nightmare and “mental torture”.
For more than five years, he controlled her movements and who she spoke to during a “physically, emotionally and mentally abusive” relationship, the court heard.
The court heard he had also tried to destroy her relationships with family and friends, and at times said the assaults were her fault and used threats of suicide to manipulate her.
She stated she was no longer under his control and was now a different person with the courage to speak up. However, she has PTSD, suffered long-term physical injuries and has been left with trust issues.
She was convinced he would kill her in the repeated attacks; during one, he made a death threat that “she would be leaving in a body bag” if she spoke out.
Parker had no prior convictions and showed no emotion as the evidence was heard in court, and photos of the injuries he inflicted on his ex-partner were displayed.
He also split her head twice in one assault, requiring 26 staples, and left her with horrific facial bruising.
Detective Garda Darren Kerins agreed with Cathal Ó Braonáin BL, instructed by State solicitor Matt Shaw, that the woman reported that Parker would not let her meet anyone and verbally abused her if she gained weight, or “blow up and attack her” while on drugs.
The court heard he constantly checked her phones and regularly smashed them; she had to delete the call logs so he would not know she was contacting family or friends, and she was terrified for her life.
She described to gardaí that her ex-partner had “a different laugh when he did something cruel; that laugh would scare her, and she would know something bad was coming”.
The court heard that Parker had a debt and was in danger and had to leave home, spending a few days in a hotel room in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin.
The man demanded she give him her social welfare money for drugs, and he was delivered tablets, ketamine and cocaine. He began pacing up and down, dribbling.
When she fell asleep, he looked at her phone and saw that several males had liked her Instagram stories. She woke and felt him hitting her legs and shoulders.
Parker screamed, “What the fuck is this on that phone?” and put his hand around her neck, calling her a tramp.
The court heard that he grabbed her by her ponytail and flung her down, punching her and smashing a hair dryer into her head and face as she pleaded for her life.
The hair dryer shattered due to the force of the blows. He then dismantled a wooden coffee table and used the top to smash into her face three or four times; her nose cracked, and she bled heavily.
He told her that he didn’t care if he killed her because he’d be happier going to prison and getting drugs there.
She had a few pictures and videos of herself naked, after she had given herself a tanning treatment. The court heard that Parker posted them to her social media accounts and sent them by WhatsApp to her parents, a 13-year-old relative, and her grandmother.
She was dizzy and crawling on the floor, but he struck her again, grabbed her ponytail and dragged her while hitting her with his knuckles.
He disconnected the hotel room phone and her mobile phone, cutting off all communication. The attacks continued throughout the night, and she blacked out, but he later told her to clean herself up.
Detective Garda Kerins said Parker tried to claim bloodstains in the badly damaged hotel room were because “she must have been on her period”.
Detective Garda Kerins then outlined a series of violent incidents over the previous four years, including one ketamine rage where Parker told her she would be leaving their home in a body bag.
Once, she was left “unrecognisable” from facial injuries.
Another time, he grabbed her neck, began choking her, and as she struggled to breathe, told him that “I could kill you right now if I want to.”
Once, she had to jump out a window when gardaí turned up, and another time, he chased and sprayed her with bleach and kicked her face and hands. He slammed a door into her face because she did not answer him fast enough.
She got a job, and he drove her to work, but would sit in his car outside for her entire shift, watching her.
A few years into the relationship, she became pregnant, but he told her that he did not want the baby because he had so many drug debts. He demanded she have an abortion, and she felt she had to due to these threats.
In one instance, when one of their dogs escaped, he punched her in the jaw six or seven times, leaving her in agony.
He blamed her choice of route, which led to him driving into a ditch on a narrow country road, and later punched her three times in the face.
He brought her to the hospital and ordered her to tell the medical staff that the wounds were from the crash. He would not wait, and she was made to sign herself out without being treated.
However, Detective Garda Kerins, who Judge Johnson praised for ensuring the case made it to court, added that gardaí had gone to the crash scene and observed that she did not have facial injuries at that time.