Thug punched partner in face three times after she asked if he was ‘texting other women’
BULLY BOY | Barry Madden grabbed victim's 13-week-old puppy, held it up by its throat and squeezed, “causing the dog’s eyes to swell”
Domestic abuser Barry MaddenThis is the Co Armagh thug who has admitted causing actual bodily harm to his partner after he repeatedly punched her to the face when she asked him if he was texting other women.At Craigavon Crown Court on Tuesday, Barry Madden (30) was re-arraigned on four of the 11 charges against him, to each of which he entered guilty pleas.Madden, currently listed as having no fixed abode but previously from North Street in Portadown, admitted causing actual bodily harm to the victim and causing criminal damage to the interior of the victim’s house between January 7-21 last year.He also admitted a charge of common assault on May 21 last year and possessing class B cannabis on the same date.Following the admissions, prosecuting counsel Nicola Auret asked for further charges of assault, non-fatal strangulation and causing unnecessary suffering to a puppy to be marked as “left on the books”. She added, however, that when the case comes to be sentenced, “the circumstances of the assault will be fully outlined”.When Madden was charged in January last year, the court heard that, according to the victim, she and Madden were in the living room of their home and he was using his phone. When she asked if he was texting other women, “he became extremely irate and aggressive and punched her with a closed fist to the jaw three times”.A police officer outlined at that stage how the victim fled upstairs to the bathroom but Madden followed her and trailed her by the arm to the bedroom where he allegedly “pushed his knuckles into her throat for 30-40 seconds and while being choked she [had ]an epileptic fit”.The officer said when police were speaking to the victim, her voice was “hoarse, we believe as a result of the strangulation”.At one point during the incident, Madden allegedly threatened that he was “going to hurt the only thing you love”. So, grabbing her 13-week-old puppy, he held it up by its throat and squeezed, “causing the dog’s eyes to swell”.Freeing Madden, who has more than 100 criminal convictions, on continuing bail and ordering him to return for sentence on June 12, Judge Patrick McGurgan advised the thug that it would be “in your best interests to cooperate fully” with the Probation Board.
