A man who bit a woman he met on Tinder in the face after their relationship turned “sour” over “jealously” has been jailed for 15 months.
The Circuit Criminal Court heard how Shane Cowzer (31) who has an address at a hostel on Gardiner Street, Dublin 1 was in a relationship with the woman for a number of weeks before she was awoken by him throwing her phone at her chest on the 27th of January 2023.
The court heard that Cowzer had become “jealous” as he believed that the woman was communicating with other men, and that she didn’t view the relationship as being as serious as he did, his defending counsel, Luke O’Higgins BL argued.
Cowzer said he was going to “smash up the house”, told her she was “lucky” she was not dead, and called her a “cheater”.
When the victim asked him to leave he grabbed her neck and threatened to kill her, the court heard.
He pleaded to assault causing harm contrary to Section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.
Later on when the victim gave Cowzer a lift to his hostel, he asked her not to park directly outside before he began to scream at her and bit her face before giving her a kiss and telling her he would see her later on.
When the pair went for a walk together he told her that he didn’t trust her.
The following Tuesday, when the woman told Cowzer that the relationship was over, he said that he would go to her place of work. He sent her voice notes and photos of her colleagues as part of this threat.
The victim went to Crumlin Garda Station where she made a statement setting out what had happened to her, which led to an investigation.
She said she suffered bruising to her face and “sharp pain” where she had been bitten, telling Gardaí she was scared that Cowzer would kill her.
When the accused was arrested on the 1st of February 2023, he admitted to being in a relationship with the woman, but maintained “no comment” answers in respect of all other questions put to him.
The court heard that both parties have no moved on and that Cowzer is in a relationship with another women.
In a victim impact statement, the injured party said she felt she had to leave her job after as she believed that customers were looking at her and “talking” about what happened. She said that she felt that her colleagues’ attitude towards her had changed as well.
She descried losing “all” her friends, going to a counsellor, and being prescribed anti-depressants in the aftermath of the assaults.
The court heard that the maximum penalty for the offending is 5 years.
Mr. O’Higgins said that at the time of the offence, his client was unemployed and has since “done a complete 180” with his life.
A letter from the Peter McVery trust outlined that Cowzer, who is very close to being allocated a council property, is a good tenant and pays his rent on time.
When he assaulted the victim he was using cocaine tablets and cannabis and “wasn’t a very nice person to be around,” he said.
Mr. O’Higgins pleaded for a non-custodial sentence saying that, should he go to jail, his client would lose his place on the local authority housing list.
He said that Cowzer “didn’t have the emotional intelligence” to deal with the situation, and that he “should have walked away.”
Judge Martin Nolan said that Cowzer had assaulted the women several times and that he had grabbed her by the neck on tow occasions and caused her “distress ” after their relationship has “gone sour” over “jealousy”.
The court acknowledged that the accused has “changed his life to some degree” and is now “contributing” to society.
He said that the accused deserved a custodial sentence and that 2-and-a-half years was a “starting point” before reducing this to 15 months from today’s date.