A personal trainer and co-founder of a female-only gym who tried to control, dominate and punish his former girlfriend has been jailed for two years and two months.
John Peters, 33, from Wellingtonia, Knockrabo Apartments, Dundrum had earlier pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault and assault causing harm to Rianna Moore and criminal damage to her phone on dates in 2022 and 2023.
Despite his guilty plea and apology at an earlier hearing, a recent probation report said Peters was still minimising his behaviour.
The couple had been in a relationship for three years and began living together in late 2021. The final year of the relationship was described as “turbulent”.
Judge Martina Baxter said that almost three years on from the last incident, and despite pleading guilty and apologising in court, Peters still accepted little responsibility and minimised his behaviour when interviewed by a probation officer while remanded in custody.
Judge Baxter said it was clear he still had no insight into his offending and that there was no suggestion he was addressing his aggression or his temper.
The judge said Peters had breached the bonds of an intimate relationship and was motivated by control and dominance of his victim as well as efforts to punish her.
She said he was working in a gym with female clients and there was a disparity in their physical strength, which he used against her. She said an aggravating factor in the case was how he tried to control her by telling her how to cover up her injuries.
The nub of the issue was his attitude to female partners, Judge Baxter said.
Judge Baxter imposed a three-year sentence on John Peters but suspended the final ten months on condition he engage with probation services and take part in programmes to deal with intimate partner violence.
She said Ms Moore gave a “powerful and eloquent victim impact statement” and should be commended for her courage in coming forward and her “quick thinking” in preserving evidence of his behaviour, which he had later tried to destroy by damaging her phone and running it under a tap.
The judge said Ms Moore had been assaulted in the privacy of her home, where she should have felt safe, by a man who was supposed to be in love with her.
Outside court, Rianna Moore said that today she felt “heard, seen and today my voice mattered.”
She added: “Justice cannot erase the past but it can provide accountability. For years I lived with fear. Fear during the relationship and fear after it ended and the fear that if I spoke up I would not be believed.
“When I finally found the courage to speak I found support, I found people who listened, people who believed me and people who helped me carry what had become too much to carry alone.”
Ms Moore thanked the gardaí, Women’s Aid and all those who had supported her. through what she said was a long legal process that had had a profound impact on her life. She said the last few years had demanded more from her than she thought she could ever give but nothing could ever undo what had happened to her.
She said the last time she was in court was the first time she genuinely felt believed. She also said she wanted her former partner to get the help he needs, said “none of us asked for this” and that both families were suffering.
She said she had to dig deep for her bravery and there were days when she thought she could not keep going but through the support from Women’s Aid and the Gardai she was able to continue.
Asked whether she had a message for others, Ms Moore said speaking out was “worth it in the end”. She said it was important for anyone in danger to come forward because there was help and support out there.
‘Today my voice mattered’
At an earlier hearing, Garda Aisling Hawkes told the court the first assault took place on July 10, 2022, in the couple’s apartment. The woman was dragged downwards by Peters and her face hit off the carpet, leaving her with a bleeding nose, a large bruise on her arm, a grazed finger and damage to her eyebrow.
When the woman said: “Look what you have done,” Peters replied that she had done it to herself.
She attended a work event the following day and Peters sent a voice note telling her she was to say the injuries had been caused by their dog. He also told her to wear clothing to cover her arms.
Another assault took place on May 2, 2023 when he ripped off her pyjama top, leaving marks under her arms. He also damaged her mobile phone on 6 June that year. The relationship ended the following day.
The woman outlined how Peters would delete numbers and messages from her phone.
The woman subsequently gave a statement to gardaí and handed over her mobile phone.
Peters was invited for interview and gave gardaí a prepared statement. He denied all the allegations and indicated his former partner was “volatile” when he decided to end the relationship. He said his wellbeing had been affected and that he was distressed.
The statement made adverse comments about the woman’s character and outlined that she was not to be believed as she had certain mental health issues.
He suggested the voice note telling her to say her pet caused the injuries might not have been him or could have been generated.
In sentencing Peters today, Judge Baxter imposed a three-year sentence for assault causing harm but suspended the final ten months on condition that he engage with probation services post release and take part in programmes to deal with intimate partner violence.
The judge also ordered that a sum of €10,000, which Ms Moore had refused to accept as a token of Peters’ remorse, be paid to Women’s Aid.