Thug who viciously beat and forced ex into car boot appeals sentence increase

Sunday World

23-04-2025

Soufiane Mountassir had his sentence almost doubled last October
The Supreme Court is set to hear an appeal of a man who had his sentence increased for beating and forcing his ex-partner into the boot of a car.
Soufiane Mountassir (39) was handed down a three-year prison term in December 2023 when he pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and assault causing harm.
The Director of Public Prosecutions appealed the sentence as it was 'unduly lenient', and as a result, it was increased to five-and-a-half years.
Mountassir then lodged an appeal to the Supreme Court, claiming that the new sentence, which was handed down last October was 'excessive and disproportionate'.
Supreme Court judges have now ruled that they will hear the appeal and raised concerns about how the Domestic Violence Act 2018 should be applied in sentencing for violent offences in intimate-partner contexts, an area that has not yet been addressed by the court.
The 39-year-old who is wanted in Germany for arson, went into what his former partner called 'a blind rage' when he subjected her to one hour and 40 minutes of being beaten and kicked, causing her to fear for her life, in the early hours of November 13, 2022.
He had been drinking, taking Dalmane and cocaine and smoking cannabis all through the day of the attack.
Imposing the sentence of three years, Judge Orla Crowe said the victim 'opened her home and heart' to Mountassir. She described the incident as a 'sustained, humiliating, violent series of offending that went through the city centre.'
In October, Diarmuid Collins BL for the state told the Court of Appeal that a 'particularly horrifying' aspect of this case was the fact that Mountassir had forced the woman, who was his partner at the time, into the boot of her own car before driving her around to various dark locations, where he 'beat her quite savagely' on a number of occasions.
He said there had been descriptions of the respondent ramming the woman's head against the steering wheel and the gearstick, evidence of blood in the car and photographs of the aftermath which 'speak for themselves'.
When interviewed by gardaí, Mr Collins said that the accused offered an account that was wholly 'exculpatory' and sought to 'blame her for the incident', suggesting the victim had banged her own head off the steering wheel.
The barrister submitted that the sentence imposed in this case represented an error in principle and was a substantial departure from the appropriate sentence.
Mr Collins further asserted that the sentencing judge had fallen into error by failing to nominate a headline sentence and failing to impose an actual sentence which adequately reflected the very serious aggravating factors in the case.
He said these included the fact that the injured party was effectively abducted and subjected to a sustained and prolonged one-hour and 40-minute attack, and the lies told by Mountassir, he said.
Other factors included that the assault took place within the context of an intimate relationship and the fact that Mountassir was wanted in another jurisdiction for another serious offence – arson – for which a significant penalty of three years and one months' imprisonment had been imposed.
The barrister also submitted that the judge had placed undue emphasis on the mitigating factors in the case, in particular the accused's plea of guilty in circumstances where he was caught 'red handed', and his personal circumstances, given the absence of reliable information in relation to this.
Mr Collins said the 'very stark' and 'chilling' nature of the case was deeply disturbing, adding one wondered what might have happened were it not for the intervention of 'three very civic minded individuals' who observed what was going on and contacted gardaí.
Miceál O'Connor BL, representing Mountassir, said the judge had properly considered all the factors and circumstances of the case and had imposed the appropriate sentence.
'In my submission Judge Crowe got this right,' he said, adding she had dealt with the matter 'impeccably'.
The barrister said 'everything that should have been done was done' and while the sentence was not 'harsh' it was within her discretion.
At an earlier sentence hearing, the court was told gardaí were called by three separate witnesses about the attack in different areas of the city before they finally located Mountassir and the woman in Grangegorman.
The court heard that Mountassir met the woman in Temple Bar and they moved in together after a few weeks.
The woman said Mountassir was 'so charming and kind' when they first met and that the relationship 'moved pretty fast'.
On the night in question, they were in the city centre when they got into an argument about jealousy.
The woman then remembered Mountassir slapping her face and her glasses falling off.
She described Mountassir gripping her and forcing her to the car where he smashed her face with force onto the boot, leaving her face covered in blood.
He then forced her into the boot and began starting and stopping the car, before eventually stopping the car and forcing her into the passenger seat.
'He was full of anger, punching my face and body repeatedly, I could not breathe from being punched into the side of the body. He told me to wipe blood off the window. I did what he said,' she said.
The court heard Mountassir grabbed her by the hair and smashed her head off the dashboard, the gear stick, the steering wheel and the passenger door.
She begged him to stop, but said he didn't care and she was concerned he was going to kill her.
Mountassir has no previous convictions in this jurisdiction but the court heard he was due before the Extradition Court as he is wanted in Germany in relation to an arson offence.