Waterford court reduces man's sentence following intervention by the victim
Waterford Courthouse
A man who assaulted his wife and asked his son to send him pictures of her while she slept has had his sentence reduced following an intervention by the injured party.
The man, who was in his 40s, cannot be named for legal reasons. He was before Judge John Cheatle at Waterford District Court, where he pleaded guilty to assault and breaching a safety order.
The injured party said that she would be concerned for his well-being after his release.
Sergeant John Phelan told the court that on a date in summer 2025, gardaí responded to a domestic incident where the injured party said that her partner breached a safety order and assaulted her.
She told gardaí that her partner accused her of cheating and headbutted her, threw a bottle of vodka over her and put his hands around her neck.
In a separate incident, the defendant texted his young son in the early hours of the morning and asked him to take and send pictures of his mother as she slept.
The injured party told gardaí that her husband constantly accuses her of cheating.
The court heard that the defendant has 54 previous convictions, including for breaching a domestic violence order, theft, drug offences and burglary.
Acting for the defendant, solicitor Ken Cunningham said his client suffers from a substance misuse problem and schizophrenia.
“On good days, he is great, and on bad days, he is very bad,” said Mr Cunningham.
Mr Cunningham said that his client has been in custody since December 19 and that he is suffering in prison, “hardly leaving his cell”.
He said he is confident that his client knows that he needs help and that he is concerned for his mental health.
“He accepts this lady has brought nothing but positivity to his life and he has brought nothing but trouble to her door,” said Mr Cunningham.
Judge Cheatle told the defendant that this was “quite a serious matter” and had he not pled guilty, it would have gone to the Circuit Criminal Court.
He said the DPP considered it on the high end for the district court and “they are not far wrong”.
The judge said he would give him credit for his guilty plea and for the time spent in custody.
He sentenced the man to nine months in prison for the assault, backdating it to the time he went into custody.
For the breach of the safety order, the man was given a six-month consecutive sentence, suspended for 12 months.
The sentence was suspended on the condition that he remain under the supervision of the probation services so that he can address the issues that led to the offences.
As the man was led from the courtroom by the prison service, his wife asked to address the court.
She told the court that she was concerned about her husband getting the help he needs.
She said that in prison, he does well, but when he is released, he falls back into addiction.
This is because he is not allowed back to the family home due to concerns Tusla has for the children.
Inspector O’Neill said that gardaí were also concerned for the safety of the injured party and her children.
Judge Cheatle said that he has designed his sentence to ensure he has access to support through the probation service and that the suspension of the sentence will act as a “sword over his head”.
However, he was amenable to reversing the sentence so that the defendant would spend less time in prison and more time under supervision.
The judge amended the sentence to six months in prison, backdated to when he went into custody and nine months suspended for 18 months to be supervised by the probation service.
