An off-duty garda assaulted in her own home by her partner has told a court that she believed she was going to die during the attack.
In a victim impact report Meihan Meng described how she began tapping her fingers on her floor to let her husband know she could not breathe as he held her down on the kitchen floor and strangled her.
Kai Zhu, 39, of Sandymount Avenue, Ranelagh, Dublin 6, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assault causing harm to his wife at their home on Sandymount Ave, on 13 May.
Garda Oliver McStravick told Antonia Boyle BL, prosecuting, that on that morning he attended the home and found the victim with marks on her neck and bruising to her face and cheeks.
He said the victim had just finished a lengthy night shift and she asked her husband to bring their three-year-old daughter out to play so she could get some sleep in their flat.
The court heard that her husband did not do this and the parents began rowing. The woman told gardaí that she made a video call to her mother-in-law in China so that she could witness the row.
The court heard that he punched and slapped her repeatedly.
The victim said her daughter was in the kitchen and was screaming and crying and that at one point she may have blacked out.
The video call with Zhu's mother was still happening on the victim's mobile phone, but Zhu then grabbed the phone and smashed it.
After his arrest, Zhu admitted assaulting his wife, but claimed that she hit him first by striking him on the back with the child's chair. He said they were both under stress from work and both getting less than three hours of sleep.
"We started the altercation because of trivial family issues. We were both agitated. I didn't realise it was so serious. In China it is common, usually we put together the next day," Zhu told gardaí, through a Chinese translator.
He denied choking her and said that he had only ever slapped her and did not punch her.
In a victim impact report, read by Ms Boyle, the woman described losing consciousness while her husband pinned her to the kitchen floor and used his hands to strangle her.
When she came around she said Zhu was still on top of her and had one hand gripped around her neck while "cross slapping" her face with his other hand.
She said: "I could barely breathe. I believed I would be dead plain and simple as I could only see red and black from my eyes. I used my fingers to tap the floor to indicate to him that I could not breathe."
The woman said that after the attack she questioned herself about "where did I go wrong and why he would hate me so much".
She said she continues to awaken every night from nightmares where she is hit in the face and said that her daughter has been left with irreparable emotional scars.
She described the attack as "life-threatening , frightening, unfamiliar and scary" and said that she now locks her front door with four sets of locks and has to remind herself every morning that the accused will not be able to hurt her.
The court heard the victim was out of work on sick leave for 46 days after the assault.
Keith Spencer BL, defending, said the case was emblematic of the times we are living in where people confined to a small space became irritable and frustrated.
He said that in his client's case this unfortunately erupted into a situation that should never have happened and which has led to the breakdown of a formerly loving family.
Mr Spencer said his client admits the assault and is deeply regretful and apologises for his actions. He said Zhu is adamant that he did not start the physical altercation, but admits he acted disproportionally.
At the time, he said, Zhu was under a lot of stress and involved in trying to import €300,000 worth of PPE into Ireland from China.
He said while Zhu was in custody for three weeks after the assault, pending his release on bail, the shipment arrived at Dublin Port but could not be released.
Judge Karen O'Connor remanded Zhu on continuing bail for sentence next Wednesday.
