A mum-of-five whose ex beat her unconscious because she wouldn’t stay up partying with him has told how she feared for her life during the assault.
Daniel Prenderville, 34, was this week jailed for six more months for the savage attack on Hayley Flood in which he battered her with the metal tube from a vacuum cleaner.
Hayley, 31, was left for dead at her home in Walkinstown, Dublin following the beating on July 6, 2019.
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She now needs regular Botox injections to help her smile straight as a result of the horrific injuries to her jaw and cheek bones.
Brute Prenderville, of Seagull House, Rutland Avenue, Dublin was on drugs on the night of the assault. He knocked Hayley to the ground and kicked her repeatedly in the face.
He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing harm and criminal damage of the front door of a flat at Dowland Road, Walkinstown.
Hayley told Irish Sunday Mirror: “I wanted to go to bed. We were after being having a drink when I said I was going to bed.
“He went into a frenzy, got my phone and smashed it. Then he smashed my nose and face and stormed out. I locked the door and next thing he kicked it in.
“He picked up the hoover pole and started beating me with it. “It was a metal pole and he was beating me in the face and in the legs with the pole.
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“I thought I was going to die. He bit me on the leg as well, I’ve no recollection of that but I had a big bite mark.
“There was nobody else in the house and he left me for dead. He didn’t ring for help, just drove off in my car. When I woke up the door was open. I went to my cousin’s house and we went to St Vincent’s Hospital. The hospital rang the guards.”
Vicious Prenderville left Hayley suffering two black eyes and severe bruising to her jaw, cheek and forehead
She revealed: “I have to have Botox every six months for my smile, because of my jaw and cheek injuries.
“If I don’t get Botox my smile is crooked. I have a serious injury on my forehead, and one of my nostrils is closed over permanently. My nostril is just constantly clogged.
“The minute I wake up I have to blow my nose. I feel like I have a cold all the time, it gives me a headache. And it makes me very self conscious.”
The court heard that Hayley was on her phone speaking to her cousin and laughing on the night of the attack.
When she said she was going to bed Prenderville – who has previous convictions for assault – told her she was being selfish because he wanted to stay up and enjoy the night.
During the assault he grabbed Hayley by the hair, punched her in the face, and battered her with the vacuum cleaner pole.
He kicked her repeatedly in the face when she fell to the floor and left her unconscious, taking the house keys and her car.
Fighting back tears Hayley said: “This happened three years ago but I will never get over it, you never get over something like that. I haven’t been the same since. If I hear a loud bang or anything I just freeze. I don’t like to be on my own.
“Three months before this incident happened I had lost my dear father Michael. He was diagnosed, dead and buried within 22 weeks with cancer.
“I’m really only grieving him now. Because of all that happened I’m only getting a chance to grieve for him three years later.”
Judge Martin Nolan accepted Prenderville’s guilty pleas and the fact he’s completed an anger management course as mitigating factors. The judge said that the headline sentence was four years but due to the mitigating factors the appropriate sentence was a prison term of 33 months.
The judge noted that Prenderville had been in custody for 20 months and allowing for good behaviour he imposed a further six-month jail term.
Judge Nolan said Prenderville had a long history of offending and “has a propensity for violence” but noted he is sorry and has taken steps to reform.
Prenderville and Hayley had been in a relationship but he is not the father of any of her children.
Last night Hayley hit out and said that she felt let down by the justice system. She said of Prenderville’s sentence: “It’s disgusting. I think it’s absolutely nothing. I say now if I was raped or nearly murdered I would never go to the police again.
“What’s the point in going to them and putting my life in danger?.”
“You’re only putting yourself in danger coming up against these thugs. I’m college educated, my life is ruined over this.
“There’s no rehabilitating him. Prison is not even good enough for him. And six more months is certainly not good enough for him.”
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