A violent criminal who attempted to murder his then partner when she was 32 weeks pregnant shouted: "I'll rip her out of you," as he kicked her repeatedly in the stomach, the Central Criminal Court heard.
Dean Paget, 36, pleaded guilty to attempting to murder his former partner Lisa Ward and accepted the facts in relation to a charge of intentionally ending the life of a foetus - his own unborn child. In a statement written by Ms Ward and read out at Paget's sentencing hearing on Monday, the victim said: "All I ever wanted was my little girl, Ruby Rose. I’m only 32 and I don’t know how I'm going to face life with the effect this has had on me."
Ruby Rose, Ms Ward said, was a "beautiful little girl and I know she will always be by my side". She said she wanted Paget to "pay for everything that he has done," and added: "I want him done for what he did to my little girl." At the sentencing hearing, Detective Garda Grainne Collier showed the court CCTV footage showing the assaults on Ms Ward as she and the accused walked along Dame Street towards their tent on Montague Lane in Dublin in the early hours of Sunday, April 25, 2021.
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Paget's barrister Anne-Marie Lawlor SC described the footage as a "graphic illustration of heinous violence meted out by Mr Paget". When the footage was shown to the court, Paget became agitated, stood up and asked for permission to leave. Mr Justice Paul McDermott allowed Paget to return to the cell area until the CCTV evidence was finished.
One man who was there to support the victim was escorted out of the court after he spoke up during graphic footage showing Paget repeatedly punching and kicking Ms Ward while she lay on the ground. Shane Costelloe SC, for the prosecution, told the court that Paget was originally charged with attempted murder, three assaults, false imprisonment, threats to kill and with intentionally ending the life of a foetus.
Counsel said that the assault charges will be dropped but Paget has pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Ms Ward on April 25, 2021 at Montague Lane in Dublin City Centre. Paget has also accepted the facts in respect of the other charges, Mr Costelloe said. Det Gda Collier told Mr Costelloe that Paget and Ms Ward were of no fixed abode at the time and were abusing drugs. Ms Ward was a little more than 32 weeks pregnant when she went to the Rotunda hospital in Dublin in a "distraught condition" having been assaulted.
She told hospital staff that her partner had assaulted her for a prolonged period of time. Gardai began an investigation and uncovered a large amount of CCTV footage which was condensed into a 12-minute montage for the court. In the first piece of footage, taken outside a pub on Dame Street, Paget can be heard asking Ms Ward "Is he your fella?".
Gda Collier said this was a reference to another man who Paget had seen with Ms Ward. He then told Ms Ward that he wanted her to come to the tent where they were sleeping rough at that time. The court then saw footage of the first assault during which Gda Collier said the accused could be heard saying, "Do you want the guards? I'm going to rip her out of you," while he kicked her in the abdomen. The garda confirmed that this was a reference to their unborn daughter.
Paget could also be seen dragging Ms Ward along the ground by the hair at Dame Lane and punching her in the back of the head while she walked ahead of him. When they arrived at their tent on Montague Lane she could be seen getting in first followed by Paget who then assaulted her again.
At 10.30 the following morning, Gda Collier said Ms Ward left the tent "gingerly so she doesn't wake up Dean Paget" before she ran off down the road. In her statements to gardai, Ms Ward described the various assaults at different locations and said that Paget told her he was going to kill her and, referencing their child, he said: "I'm going to rip her out of you."
At one point audio from the CCTV footage picked up Paget calling the unborn child a "bastard", suggesting someone else was the father and that he was going to kill Ms Ward and the child, the gda said. Medical tests carried out at the Rotunda showed that there was no foetal heartbeat. Assistant State Pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers found that there had been a placental abruption that was likely to have been caused by the assault.
When gardai first tried to speak to Paget he was outside the jurisdiction but when he returned he was arrested and interviewed. Gda Collier said Paget initially told gardai that the account given by Ms Ward was "inaccurate or made up" and that she couldn't be trusted.
When gardai showed him CCTV footage of the assaults, he told them he had a poor memory of what happened as he was under the influence of drugs at the time. Paget's 68 previous convictions include robbery, criminal damage, violent behaviour at a garda station, trespass, theft, misuse of drugs and entering a building with intent to commit an offence.
Ms Lawlor, for Paget, told the court that her client was a chronic drug user who, as a child, had witnessed routine assaults by his father on his mother. She said that while it will do nothing to reduce the impact on the victim, Paget had asked her to express his remorse for what he did. Ms Lawlor said that when Paget saw the CCTV footage of what he had done he gave a "genuine and spontaneous expression of remorse".
Counsel said Paget left the court during the showing of the CCTV footage because he "cannot bear to recollect what he did. “He doesn’t shy away from it, he accepts it and he entered a plea but what he did is a source of extraordinary regret to him."
He had written an apology in which he said that he takes full responsibility and apologised to Ms Ward. "I know her hurt and pain is all my fault," he said, and that nothing will change what he has done and he will accept whatever sentence the court hands down. Mr Justice Paul McDermott adjourned sentencing until February 7. Paget remains in custody.
In her statement, Ms Ward said that the emotional pain will live with her for the rest of her life. "I was looking forward to bringing my baby girl into this world but she never got a chance," she said. She said she doesn't think she will ever trust a man again and doesn't know how she is going to face life. "All the hope I have has been torn away. I feel like harming myself. I'm lucky that I have a good family behind me."
She said that Paget knew what he was doing was wrong and should pay for what he did.
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