W2C-006 Belfast Telegraph 5-3.txt
Man jailed for killing his girlfriend Marie Foy

An alcoholic who admitted killing his five months pregnant girlfriend was jailed for five years today.

Jennifer Trimble (32), died two days after receiving head injuries during a drunken row with the accused Thomas Wightman in February last year.

Belfast Crown Court heard that the couple's six-year relationship had been stormy and that they had hit each other on numerous occasions.

Cuts

A Crown lawyer said police were called to the pair's Donard Street home in Belfast after neighbours heard shouting and fighting.

Officers found Wightman (35), with cuts to his eye. Ms Trimble was lying unconscious on a settee in the front livingroom.

She had severe bruises to the face and eyes and her head was wrapped in a towel.

She failed to regain consciousness and died two days later in hospital.

The prosecution said that the two had been out drinking and had started to fight when they came home.

Wightman told police he hit his girlfriend's head against the bathroom door or wall, but said he had not intended to kill her.

Defence lawyer Tony Cinnamond said, however, that Wightman's recollection of the events were hazy due to drink and it could have been that he struck her and her head banged against the wall.

"Almost certainly this was a very unlucky blow for her and for him," he said. The lawyer said the pair had fallen deeply in love and his client was "devastated" by what had happened.

Passing sentence, Lord Justice MacDermott said: "The background to this case is one of excessive drinking and violence."

He told Wightman: "People simply must not be violent towards each other. If they are and this kind of tragedy occurs then they must be punished for such behaviour."

The judge accepted that the accused would be "tormented" by this knowledge for the rest of his life.
