Former world boxing champion Eamonn Magee has been jailed for four months for beating up a woman in a north Belfast flat.
The judge told the 43-year-old ex-fighter that his “nasty” attack on a vulnerable victim warranted the prison term. However, Magee was granted bail pending a planned appeal against the assault conviction.
Belfast Magistrates’ Court had heard he dragged Louise Mullan to the ground by her hair before kicking and hitting her. The nursing home worker said she was subjected to a no-warning attack during a late-night drinking session at a friend’s apartment in July last year.
Denying the charge, the defendant claimed she subjected him to a barrage of up to 10 punches he likened to legendary US middleweight Marvin Hagler. Magee, known as The Terminator during a professional career which saw him capture the WBU welterweight belt, had left a bar with Mrs Mullan and her boyfriend at closing time to go back to a mutual friend’s flat in the Oldpark area.
She told the court they had some drinks before Magee targeted her as she sat on a kitchen bench. “All of a sudden Eamonn just turned into somebody else, grabbed me by the hair and trailed me to the ground,” she said at last month’s contested hearing. “He was kicking and hitting me, holding me on the ground. I was trying my best to swing back to get him off me.”
She said the attack lasted for up to two minutes, before Magee got up and ran out the door. She said she was left with rib and leg injuries, forcing her to take unpaid leave from her job.
