Stephenville man gets 20 months for assault

A man from the western Newfoundland community of Stephenville with a violent criminal history was sentenced to 20 months in prison Wednesday for assaulting a woman.  

Matthew Francis O'Quinn, 32, pleaded guilty in provincial court in Stephenville to eight charges after assaulting a woman this summer while he was on the Port au Port Peninsula.

On one occasion O'Quinn used a sharp sea shell while he was assaulting the woman.

O'Quinn pleaded guilty to two assault charges and one count of assault with a weapon along with breaching probation and other court orders. He was also sentenced to three years on probation.  

Nine charges were dropped, including a sexual assault charge and a charge of confining the woman.

A CBC News investigation in September found that O'Quinn has had a long history of run-ins with the police and has been convicted of committing violent crimes.

A National Parole Board ruling in 2006 — in which O'Quinn was denied parole — found that he was considered a high risk to reoffend with violence.

He was convicted after confining a woman to a tent for 30 days in 2004 and beating her with a tree branch.