By Natasha Reid & Claire Henry
A man has been jailed for 20 months for attacking and threatening to kill his then partner in their home at a time when he was a serving garda.
Ian Gillen of Carysfort Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin was before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court today, where he pleaded guilty to threatening to kill or cause serious harm to Jennifer Clinton on December 23, 2021, at Trafalgar Lane, Monkstown, and to assaulting Ms Clinton on the same occasion.
After hearing facts in the case yesterday, Judge Martin Nolan adjourned the case overnight.
Today, Judge Nolan said the custody threshold had been crossed in this case, noting that he had considered the facts of the case, Gillen’s circumstances and mitigation.
He imposed a prison sentence of four years, with the final 28 months suspended on strict conditions due to the substantial mitigation and the tragedy in Gillen’s life.
Inspector Rachael Kilpatrick testified yesterday that the couple had socialised together that evening in Blackrock Tennis and Bowling Club, where they were members. They had gone home separately, with Ms Clinton arriving home first.
Ms Clinton told gardai that when Gillen arrived home, he called her downstairs to sit on a pouffe by the fireside, where he stood over her in an intimidating manner, rebuking her and calling her names.
“Jen, I’m going to rip your head off,” he had said, putting her in fear, and prompting her to make an audio recording of the rest of the incident on her mobile phone, should she not survive.
He punched her with a closed fist three times on top of her head. In an effort to get away, she said she needed to go to the toilet, but he refused to let her go.
She eventually managed to go, locked the bathroom door behind her, and cleared the windowsill so she’d have a route out. She eventually made her way out of the house.
She had managed to record 40 minutes of the threats. An attempt was made to play this in court, but it was not possible due to technical difficulties. A transcript of the recording was handed to the judge instead.
Ms Clinton described Gillen’s conduct as pure anger. She said that any time she tried to get up, he kept telling her to sit back down.
“You’re going to die tonight,” he told her three times.
He also said that he was going to die that night, and she believed her life was in serious danger.
After she escaped, Gillen was arrested for coercive control, was interviewed, and the recording was played to him. He was embarrassed and said it wasn’t in him to hit her, but indicated it was another person in his body.
“He was shocked by his own behaviour,” said Inspector Kilpatrick.
Gillen accepted that he could snap and be angry with drink. He said he had issues in his background, including the death of his son, which caused him to drink.
He has since retired and has no previous convictions.
Under cross-examination by the defence, the inspector agreed that Gillen had been a front-line garda for 40 years and had dealt with a lot of stressful situations.
She accepted that it was in the line of duty that he had to deal with his son taking his own life in his early 20s. Gillen was the first responder on the scene. His mental health deteriorated, and he relied on alcohol.
Ms Clinton entered the witness box to deliver an emotional victim impact statement, having to take a break to dry her tears at one stage.
She said that her life had been marked by fear and deep trauma since the prolonged assault, when she felt overpowered and trapped.
She said she still lived with the consequences every day, having been diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety and depression.
“I live in a state of hypervigilance,” she said. “I lost my confidence. The memory of that night is etched into my mind and body like the cross he etched into the front door of our shared home one night in a rage”.
She said that Gillen’s rising aggression while they socialised in the club that evening was what had prompted her to leave, but that he had then arrived home full of fury.
“I wanted my family to know the truth if I did not survive,” she said, referring to the 40 minutes of the assault that she captured on her phone.
“I’m the biggest white psychopath you’ll ever meet,” he had told her.
At one point, Gillen mockingly suggested that she ring Blackrock Garda Station, insinuating that nobody would help her if she did, because he was a serving garda.
Ms Clinton said that she had to work out how she would escape from the home, where she had previously felt safe.
“I thought of my children and grandchildren and made a break for it. I still have recurring nightmares where I did not get out,” she explained.
“Living with him took a deep emotional toll. I felt smaller and smaller all the time,” she said. “The man I once loved became someone I feared.”
She said that she was in a state of heartbreak and vulnerability when he attacked her, having lost her sister, her mother, her best friend, as well as Gillen’s son, Cathal.
“I’m not the person I was before this happened to me,” she continued. She said that the horror of that night still affected and echoed through the lives of those she loved.
“As a longstanding member of An Garda Síochána, he would present himself as a figure, someone to be believed and relied upon to uphold common decency and morality,” she said.
She said she had not included the most appalling part of what he had said about being a garda, but that they were in the recording. However, she said that he did not tarnish the reputation of An Garda Síochána, but just of himself.
“I’m here for justice,” she said, asking the court to take into account the enduring horror Gillen had caused.
Kathleen Leader SC, defending, handed the court two testimonials and a psychologist’s report on behalf of her client, who she said was a deeply ashamed man and apologised for what he had put Ms Clinton through.
She said he had faced a number of traumatic incidents in his 40 years with the force. They had taken their toll on him and probably hadn’t been dealt with as they should have been.
She described the death of his son in the very recent past, while Gillen was on duty, as every guard’s and parent’s worst nightmare, and asked the court to take it into account.
She said that he had retired from the gardaí on medical grounds.
Counsel explained that Gillen was a former senior international bowler and a member of Blackrock Bowling Club, while his son had been involved in Cabinteely Soccer Club. He now works to prevent suicide through these clubs.
“He has become involved as a person to speak to about mental health issues,” she said.
His two referees were in court to support him, she said, with one crediting her client with saving his life and the other saying that he had helped him in the prevention of suicide.
“He was enduring a very traumatic event at the time,” she said. “It was an out-of-character incident.”
She said that her client attends his GP and a psychiatrist, who told him that he was dealing with his trauma appropriately by helping others.
Ms Leader quoted the psychologist’s report as saying Gillen was at a low risk of domestic violence in future, provided things are maintained as they are.
“This was a man who was stressed at the time for very good reason, not appropriately dealing with the stress,” she said.
Passing sentence today, Judge Martin Nolan said, “It seems only he knows why he attacked her. He beat her over a period of time and slapped her and made very serious threats that were believable”. He said, “This injured party was terrified, and she eventually made her escape”.
Judge Nolan said the background to this case is that this defendant is a retired member of An Garda Síochána. He said Gillen was a front-line garda who had to “make difficult decisions, and this can have an effect on a person.” He also noted that Gillen was “visited with a tragic event with the death of his son, which must have affected him”.
He said there was a report before the court which outlined how this tragic incident impacted the defendant.
The judge said the mitigation in this case is clear: Gillen entered a guilty plea, there was a general level of cooperation, he has no record of conviction, and he has a good work history, all of which the court must acknowledge.
Judge Nolan said, “I believe that he has crossed the custody threshold”, noting that this is a very serious matter. He said, “I don’t know what was going through his mind on that night”.
Judge Nolan sentenced Gillen to four years in prison, but due to the substantial mitigation and the tragedy in his life, he suspended the final 28 months for 28 months.