Man choked his wife in front of young children, court hears
Olivia Kelleher
A man who was separated from his wife but living under the same roof choked her in front of their young children, with the attack only coming to a halt when they pleaded with him to stop, a court has heard.
The middle-aged man was before the Cork Circuit Criminal Court, having pleaded guilty to the non-fatal strangulation of his former partner.
There is a prohibition on the names of the individuals involved to protect the identity of the children.
The plea was accepted by the state on a full facts basis with his offences also involving assault, criminal damage, threats to kill, and production of an article.
Garda Donnchadh Finnegan said that the injured party reported an incident at her home to gardaí on the 13th of August 2024.
She said that on the previous night, her husband was watching Netflix and drinking alcohol at their family home. He drank two bottles of Moët champagne.
She went to bed, where she started receiving increasingly abusive text messages from her husband. Garda Finnegan said that her bedroom door was locked. However, he forced his way in, turned on the light, and started to read out text messages.
The woman was told to “comply or die.
Garda Finnegan said that the woman “feared for her life.” She attempted to get dressed, but he grabbed her by the upper arm and punched the left side of her jaw. The injured party struggled and fell onto her bed.
The man put a pillow on her face. Garda Finnegan said, “she feared she might be killed.” She managed to make her escape and ran to the bedroom of two of the three young children in the house.
Garda Finnegan said that she managed to get into one of their bunk beds, but the accused succeeded in grabbing her by the arm and dragging her back into her bedroom.
“She was telling him to stop. He placed his two hands around her throat, putting pressure on and choking her. He was twisted and angry.”
Garda Finnegan said the children yelled at him in a bid to defend her and shouted “stop, stop.” He stopped choking the woman.
The woman also told gardaí of a number of other incidents which had occurred in the house in the last year. This included him producing a knife and threatening to kill her and possibly himself. He also produced a knuckle duster at one point. The woman said she feared her husband who also repeatedly called her names.
The man was arrested and taken to a garda station for questioning. He was detained three times where he made limited admissions. Garda Finnegan said that the injured party had extensive bruising and a cut to the inside of her lip.
Over the course of the incident on the 12th-13th of August 2024, the man caused criminal damage to a bedroom door and also broke a large mirror on a stand and two pictures.
Judge Helen Boyle was told that the man had three previous convictions for dangerous driving, refusing to give blood or a urine sample to gardaí, and intoxication.
A victim impact statement was handed in to the court. Defence barrister Donal O’Sullivan said that his client had stayed away from the woman in a year since the last incident occurred. They no longer live in the same house, and he has access to his children with the situation now being “amicable.”
Mr O’Sullivan said that his client accepted that he had behaved in an “appalling manner.”
Judge Boyle remanded the man in custody until November 27th next for sentencing.
She said that it was a serious matter and asked Mr O’Sullivan to furnish certain reports in relation to steps taken by his client to stop drinking. A probation report will also be prepared in the interim.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can contact Women’s Aid (24-hour freephone helpline at 1800-341 900, email helpline@womensaid.ie) or Men’s Aid Ireland (confidential helpline at 01-554 3811, email hello@mensaid.ie) for support and information.
Safe Ireland also offers a number of local services and helplines at safeireland.ie/get-help/where-to-find-help/. In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112
