A man who assaulted the mother of his child, threatened to burn down her home and to kill her extended family members, has been jailed for four and a half years.
The 33-year-old Dublin man, who cannot be named to protect the anonymity of the woman and child, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to one count of threat to kill on December 23rd, 2020, along with one count of assault causing harm and breaching a protection order on January 4th, 2021.
A number of other counts were taken into consideration.
The couple had been in a relationship which ended while she was pregnant with their child, the court heard.
Garda Darragh Cullen told Aoife McNickle BL, prosecuting, that the woman had just got into a taxi to take her home from a Dublin shopping centre on the first day in question when the man jumped in beside her and started threatening her.
During the taxi ride, the man threatened to kill the woman and her family members. He told her he would “spray her mother's house with bullets” and “put her mother on the bonnet of his car”. He made further threats to her brother and stepfather.
The woman was “very scared” and managed to text her mother from the taxi, who in turn alerted gardaí. As a result, gardaí were waiting at the woman's home when the taxi arrived and the man was arrested.
The court heard a protection order was in place against the man, but it arose that day that it may not have been served properly and so it was served again that day and he was released.
Just under two weeks later, the woman was hosting some friends at home in the evening when the man turned up at her house. She told him to leave, which he did. However, he returned at 1am that morning and forced his way into the house.
The baby started crying and the woman said she needed to go and attend to it. The man kicked her in the back as she made her way to the bedroom and told her he would burn the house down to the ground if she called anyone.
The woman was terrified for her own life and her baby's life. While in the bedroom, she managed to ring 999 before going out to the man who was in the kitchen.
He started shouting and assaulting her – kicking her repeatedly to the head, face and body.
The woman tried to leave but he forced her to stay where she was. The assault lasted for a few more minutes before gardaí arrived. They could hear sounds of an assault and a woman in distress as they approached the house, the court heard.
The woman answered the door to gardaí with blood streaming from her mouth and face. The man was initially thought to have fled the scene but was found hiding in the hot press. He resisted arrest and had to be handcuffed.
He alleged the woman had come at him with a knife and he was acting in self-defence.
He has 84 previous convictions, including for assault.
Passing down sentence, Judge Martin Nolan said the man is “intemperate” and has a history of convictions for a fairly serious level of violence. He handed down a sentence of four and a half years, and said the man should be given full credit for time spent in custody.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can contact Women’s Aid (24-hour freephone helpline at 1800-341 900, email helpline@womensaid.ie) or Men’s Aid Ireland (confidential helpline at 01-554 3811, email hello@mensaid.ie) for support and information.
Safe Ireland also offers a number of local services and helplines at safeireland.ie/get-help/where-to-find-help/. In the case of an emergency, always dial 999/112.
