A man who falsely imprisoned his ex-partner and stabbed both her parents has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison, with the final two years suspended.
The 21-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the anonymity of his victim, was sent forward to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on signed guilty pleas from the District Court regarding charges of false imprisonment, assault causing harm, production of an article, and using an imitation firearm while gardaí attempted to arrest him.
The offending occurred on two dates in April and June 2023, after the man broke into his ex-partner's home.
On Wednesday, Judge Martin Nolan said the accused had behaved “in a disgraceful manner” towards his ex-partner and her parents, in what were extremely frightening, extremely serious offences.
He said the accused had mental health difficulties which had undoubtedly played their part in the offences, but that a custodial sentence was unavoidable.
Judge Nolan suspended the final two years of the six-and-a-half year sentence by reason of mitigation and the personal circumstances of the accused.
A local garda said officers were called to the house of the injured party on April 8th, 2023, following a report of an aggravated burglary.
The court heard the man had contacted his ex-partner earlier that day in relation to seeing their daughter, and the woman had responded to say he was not welcome.
False imprisonment
The man then showed up to her house at 11am in the morning and entered the premises.
When he was inside, he produced a kitchen knife and pushed his ex-partner further inside the house, before locking the front door behind him.
The woman's sister, who was upstairs at the time, heard the commotion and came downstairs. The man then demanded both women hand over their phones, which they did.
Words were exchanged, and at one point the man used the knife to stab a hole in the wall of the house.
After an hour, his ex-partner was able to convince him to hand over the knife and leave the house.
He was arrested and later released from custody on bail in May.
While on bail, the man broke into the woman's home at around 4.30am on June 3rd, 2023.
The court heard he entered the home and produced a knife and imitation firearm. His ex-partner was able to lock herself in a room downstairs and phone gardaí.
When gardaí arrived, the woman was able to leave the room she had locked herself in to let them in. As officers came into the house, the man pointed his imitation firearm at them.
Stabbing
The officers then left the building and contacted the Garda Armed Support Unit.
The man blocked the woman and her parents from leaving the house, stabbing her mother in the torso and her father in the finger.
As the struggle continued, the injured parties managed to escape the house.
Armed gardaí entered the house and the man made an attempt on his own life before he was arrested, the court heard.
The woman's parents were treated by paramedics at the scene before being brought to St James's Hospital for further treatment.
The man was also brought to hospital for treatment to injuries sustained in the incident.
The court heard the man made full admissions in relation to both incidents when interviewed by gardaí.
No victim impact statement was handed in to the court.
'Drastic actions'
Michael Bowman SC, defending, said his client “felt that access to his daughter was being denied to him, and he took drastic actions in those circumstances”.
“All perspective was lost in circumstances where the accused was consumed by thoughts of self-harm,” he told the court, adding that his client had planned to take his own life after he saw his daughter one last time.
Mr Bowman said his client wished to apologise and acknowledged “no one deserves that kind of treatment”.
He told the court his client, who has no previous convictions, had fallen into a “deep depression upon the breakup of this relationship” and had been “falling apart psychologically”.
Mr Bowman added that his client has been evaluated as being at low risk of re-offending, and wrote a letter to the court acknowledging how the way he behaved is “utterly unacceptable”.
He also said the man's ex-partner had showed “extraordinary humanity and generosity of spirit” during the process.
In sentencing, Judge Nolan said that if the accused man deals with his problems, he is quite capable of performing well in life.
The judge also ordered the accused to place himself under the supervision of the Probation Service for one year post-release.
