Binge drinker who throttled lover is jailed

A MAN who launched a terrifying attack on his on-off lover after being urged on by a voice in his head has been jailed for 18 months.

David O’Reilly, 32, formerly of an address in the city’s Longstone Road, was originally accused of attempted rape and attempted murder after the incident on October 20, 2009. However his guilty plea to a much reduced charge of assaulting the woman to her injury was accepted.

Hallucinating O’Reilly’s behaviour changed dramatically around midnight on the night of the attack as he was being told by one imaginary person that he should hurt the 39-year-old woman but another said he should leave her alone.

During the attack which followed, he tried to smash a 5lb kettle bell weight into her face and throttled her until she passed out.

Judge Lord Uist was yesterday told that O’Reilly had been on the run after missing a previous court date and had been arrested in London. Defence solicitor advocate Richard Goddard said O’Reilly had mostly had a useful and law abiding life, and added that O’Reilly had felt “disgusted with myself”.

Lord Uist also ordered that O’Reilly be on a supervised release order for nine months after he has served his sentence.