Man to be sentenced later for assault of former partner in front of her child

By David O’Sullivan

A man will be sentenced early next year for the assault of a former partner in her own home while her child was present.

The man (36), who cannot be named to protect the anonymity of his victim, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to counts of criminal damage, endangerment, assault and trespass on January 5, 2021.

Garda Rachel Healy told the court that on January 5, 2021 the victim was running an errand at a local supermarket with the man.

At some point, the victim abandoned her shopping and returned to the car.

The man followed her and got into the passenger side.

Garda Healy said: “There was a verbal argument, and I think it got heated.”

While inside the car, the man punched the visor and windshield, causing €1,676 worth of damage.

The woman asked him to leave, but he refused.

The court heard the woman said she would drive him to a local garda station if he didn’t get out of the vehicle.

While the woman was driving, the man pulled the car’s steering wheel.

This pulled the car across several driving lanes.

Garda Healy said the victim said her “legs and arms went to jelly at that point.”

She again told him to leave the car.

Paramedics driving by observed the car which was then stationary, but blocking two lanes.

They approached and the victim told them that the man had pulled the steering wheel, causing her to lose control of the car.

The paramedics called the gardai, at which point the man left.

Evidence was given that when the victim got home, she locked all the doors and windows.

She texted the man not to come.

However, later that night he jumped over the back wall of the house, then pulled the door open.

The garda told Tessa White BL, prosecuting, that the man “grabbed her by the side of the face” and pushed her to the ground.

The woman’s child came into the room and screamed.

The court heard that the man called her “a slut”, “a manipulative bitch” and  “the worst mother in the world”.

The man told the victim it was her fault that the incident happened, because she had changed the password to her phone which made him paranoid.

The court heard the man left the house but then came back in tears and said he had nowhere else to go.

No medical evidence in relation to the victim was provided to the court.

At a later date, gardai told the injured party to arrange to meet the man at a cafe.

However, gardai arrived instead and arrested the man.

In a victim impact statement read out by Ms White, the injured party described the consequences of that day.

She said. “I don’t trust men, aside from my family” and that “I wake up at night panicking that someone is in the house.”

The victim said she suffers from PTSD and flashbacks that cause her to go into panic attacks.

She continued: “in the days that followed, I could only think: what if he killed us both?”

The woman said “my house stopped feeling like my home” and that “our safe space became a danger zone.”

The man has 79 previous convictions, including one for assault causing harm and two for criminal damage.

He was convicted of assault causing harm and two counts of criminal damage previously and was handed three-year prison sentence, with a final six months suspended.

The court heard that the same injured party was also the victim in this case.

The man had been on bail on those matters when he committed the current offences, Ms White told the court.

Morgan Shelley BL, defending, said the man was taken to prison “with the attitude of someone who will do everything he can do to reform himself.”

He described him as “someone who has grasped every possible educational opportunity” while in custody.

He said he has attended classes on anger management, alternatives to violence and managing strong emotions.

Judge James O Donohue described the governor’s report from the prison where the man has been in custody in as “glowing.”

He said the man “seems to be a model prisoner” and questioned whether there was a medical reason someone would behave well in custody and irrationally outside.

He ordered a psychological report and adjourned the matter until 6 February 2024 to set a date for finalization.