By Natasha Reid
A man has been jailed for the false imprisonment of his former wife at knifepoint for hours while several Gardaí negotiated with him from outside their front door.
There had never been any domestic abuse in their three-year marriage, but Anthony Yankson (37) was speaking about spiritual healing and voodoo in the lead-up to the crime and was convinced his wife was cheating on him.
The court heard she was not unfaithful and he was later diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Yankson, with an address at Sherrard Street Lower in Dublin, was before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, having pleaded guilty to the false imprisonment of his wife at their home on March 29, 2022.
Judge Orla Crowe said the matter was serious and it had been prolonged, terrifying and very traumatic for the injured party – Yankson’s former partner.
Judge Crowe noted his diagnosis of schizophrenia and the mental health issues in the case.
She considered his guilty plea, that he was now medically compliant and an apology had been extended. She said having considered the matter at length, she was of the view it had to be marked with a custodial sentence.
Judge Crowe set a headline sentence of six years and, having considered all the circumstances of the case, imposed a sentence of four years and suspended the final two years on strict conditions.
The conditions include probation supervision, engaging in offence-focused work and with mental health services, remaining medically compliant and that he be referred to intimate partner violence intervention program. He is also to disclose any future intimate relationships to the Probation Service.
During an earlier sentence hearing, the court heard that gardaí were called to the scene that day and heard banging and a woman screaming for help in an upstairs flat of a house.
The door to the flat was locked and the woman told gardaí that her husband would not let her leave and had the key in his pocket. He also had a large knife.
The two gardaí present called for armed assistance. When the Armed Support Unit (ASU) arrived, Yankson told them he had a knife and refused to open the door.
He agreed to allow the gardaí to partially open the door and they used breaching equipment to do so.
They could see Yankson had one arm around his wife to hold her back, and a large kitchen knife in the other hand. He was trying to prevent her from getting out. She was distressed, while he was in an agitated state and refused to drop the knife.
The court heard that Yankson began to move and pointed the knife to his wife’s neck, stomach and back.
Negotiators arrived and began engaging with him. Between 10 and 20 Gardaí were present at various times in the small hallway, and spent a total of three and a half hours engaging with Yankson to secure his wife’s release.
While there, they overheard him claiming his wife was cheating on him and sleeping with other men. He didn’t believe they were genuine gardaí.
He was afraid of the guns, and was praying to God that his wife would be hurt and not him, while holding the knife to her stomach. He said that, if necessary, they would both die together.
His victim eventually positioned herself at the doorway with him behind her. She was tearful and very frightened, and he again pointed the knife at her stomach.
She was becoming more restless and he angrier. She suddenly made a movement in an attempt to escape. Gardaí used that opportunity to push through with firearms and Tasers drawn.
Yankson was observed attempting to stab at his wife’s lower back as she tried to escape, and a Taser was deployed. He retreated into the kitchen where more knives were seen in his vicinity.
At this stage, gardaí felt there was an imminent threat to his wife’s life, and were also fearful for their own lives after the Taser hadn’t subdued him, the court heard. He then attempted to take a Taser from a garda before he was subdued with a second Taser.
The woman told gardaí that they had argued a few days beforehand, with him accusing her of being unfaithful, and that he’d packed his bag and said he was going to leave.
When she met a friend a few nights before the incident, he called her 20 times.
They worked together in a pharmacy and had gone to work as normal the previous day. However, that night, he was talking of spiritual healing and voodoo.
He insisted on accompanying her to her hair appointment on the morning of the crime and stayed with her throughout. They were to go to work at 2pm but when they got home, he wouldn’t let her go.
He had the front door key and she got a knife to try to open the door, but Yankson took the knife from her.
In her victim impact statement, she wrote of the profound impact the experience had on her life. She had to leave her job and returned to live with her family.
However, she still suffered from fear and anxiety and was constantly on edge. She woke repeatedly and attended psychotherapy for several months. Her family also felt unsafe and fearful, she said.
In interview, Yankson said he didn’t know what had come over him.
Seoirse O Dunlaing SC, defending, said his client was originally from Ghana and had come here in 2021. He had no record of mental illness here. However mental health issues were suspected when he was taken into custody and the psychiatrist assigned to him made contact with a psychiatrist who had treated him in Ghana.
Psychiatrists for both the prosecution and defence agreed that he was suffering from schizophrenia at the time of the offence, and that this warranted a mitigating factor in sentencing. The court heard he has responded well to medication.
Counsel told the court that Yankson was now managing his condition and engaging with his diagnosis. He asked the court to consider a non custodial sentence.