Man gets suspended sentence after he sent his former partner over 300 threatening and abusive messages over a two week period

By CCC reporter

A man who sent his former partner over 300 threatening and abusive messages in a two week period has been given a suspended sentence.

Judge Elma Sheahan ordered the 42-year-old man not to contact the woman – the mother of his children – in any way for the next two years, save via a nominated third party for Family Court issues.

The man, who can’t be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to one count of harassing the woman on dates between January 14 and January 29, 2021.

Two counts of breaching a safety order on dates in January and February 2021 were taken into consideration.

He has seven previous convictions.

Garda Padraig Guinan told the court that the man gained access to his former partner’s email on their son’s computer tablet while their two children were staying with him.

He found sexual imagery and an image of another man on this email account and called her at 1.30am to accuse her of texting another man and sending sexual images.

The accused sent the images to her that he claimed were found on her email, calling her a “slut” and “sleazy”.

The court heard that the man sent about 300 WhatsApp messages and 34 text messages to the victim between January 14 and January 29.

Messages were sent on a daily basis throughout the two weeks.

The man threatened to send the images to the close family of the victim. He was blocked on WhatsApp, but began texting her on a different messenger app instead, the court heard.

Garda Guinan told Caroline Latham BL, prosecuting, that there was a history of mental and physical abuse while the couple were in a relationship between 2011 to 2017.

The victim was granted a protection order against the man in April 2020 but she said the abuse continued until a safety order was granted in December 2020.

The woman previously read her victim impact statement in court, saying how she was “in total disbelief that this was happening to me.”

“I felt that I would never have a life and my life wasn’t worth living,” she said in her statement.

“Only for the joy of my children, I don’t think I would be in court today.”

The victim said she had constant heart palpitations, weight loss due to an issue with eating, and a lack of confidence after the incident.

The court heard she felt ashamed of the images.

“I felt my human rights were stripped away from me,” she said.

She said in her statement that she still feels worried about what happened. “He has destroyed the best part of me,” she said.

Sentencing the man today, Judge Sheahan said the threats made by the man were of a “threatening and disturbing nature”.

She noted the woman had suffered “stress, upset and distress” as a result.

“The court is concerned he engaged in this behaviour, notwithstanding the fact there was a court order in place to protect the safety of his former partner at the time,” the judge said.

The judge took into account a number of mitigating factors, including the fact the accused has regained visiting rights to his children in recent weeks and wishes to retain this on a more stable basis.

She handed down a sentence of 22 months and suspended it on a number of conditions, including that the man remain under the supervision of the Probation Service for that period.

“The court is of the view it is in the interest of society, his children and his former partner that the Probation Service help him to deal with his anger and other issues,” the judge said.

She ordered the man not to have any communication with his partner “in any way” for two years, and only with her express permission after that period.