A woman left for dead in a savage assault by her partner is pleading with the Justice Minister not to allow his early release from prison.
Kim Fox, from Loughlinstown in south Dublin, says she is terrified that jailed brute Paul Barry will “finish her off” when he gets out.
The 38-year-old was jailed for 32 months for an attack on Kim which left her with a fractured eye socket, three fractured ribs and two teeth knocked out.
But less than two years into his sentence prison sources have confirmed he will be released before Christmas.
Kim told Dublin Gazette: “I went through hell. The way he left me to die… the justice system has let me down.”
During his trial Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Barry, from Ballybrack, attacked Kim while she was in bed after he returned from an all-day booze and drugs bender to celebrate his birthday.
The first blow knocked her unconscious but he continued to beat her and left her lying in a pool of blood – before opening a can of cider to continue drinking.
When Kim’s distraught daughter found her Barry told her she was just sleeping, but the quick-thinking teenager managed to alert gardai and save her mother.
Kim said: “I was left in a really bad way. Basically he wanted me dead. When my daughter rang gardai she thought I was dead.
“She jumped out the window with the keys to let them in. They found blood and hair all around the room.
“I’ve had to get new teeth and have surgery on my face. The scar on my face is atrocious. I have to take my teeth out at night.
“This is something that never leaves you.”
Kim said she was “horrified” to learn that Barry could be out in a matter of months. Her mother lives nearby and to visit him she has to pass his house.
She said: “He only lives around the corner. There is literally a laneway between his house and my house. I’m terrified of meeting him in that laneway.
“I live in fear. He always said ‘if I can’t have you nobody else can’.”
A campaign to keep Barry behind bar, which includes an online petition, is being supported by Stop Domestic Violence In Ireland. For more information visit the SDVII Facebook page.
