A man who stopped choking his wife only when their young children begged him to will remain in prison over Christmas as a judge has said it was “inappropriate” for him to receive bail before a sentencing hearing.
The middle-aged man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his children, was before Cork Circuit Criminal Court earlier this month having pleaded guilty to the non-fatal strangulation of his former partner.
The plea was accepted by the State on a full-facts basis with his offences also involving assault, criminal damage, threats to kill and production of an article.
Garda Donnchadh Finnegan previously said that the injured party was separated from her husband but living under the same roof as him when the offence occurred. She reported an incident at her home to gardaí on August 13th, 2024.
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She said that on the previous night her husband was watching Netflix and drinking alcohol. He drank two bottles of Moët & Chandon champagne.
She went to bed where she started receiving increasingly abusive text messages from her husband. Garda Finnegan said that her bedroom door was locked. However, he forced his way in, turned on the light and started to read out text messages. The woman was told to “comply or die”.
Garda Finnegan said the woman “feared for her life”. She attempted to get dressed but he grabbed her by the upper arm and punched the left side of her jaw. The injured party struggled and fell on to her bed.
The man put a pillow on her face. Garda Finnegan said “she feared she might be killed”. She managed to make her escape and ran to the bedroom of two of the three young children in the house.
Garda Finnegan said that she managed to get into one of their bunk beds but the accused succeeded in grabbing her by the arm and dragging her back in to her bedroom.
“She was telling him to stop. He placed his two hands around her throat putting pressure on and choking her. He was twisted and angry.”
Garda Finnegan said the children yelled at him in a bid to defend her and shouted “Stop, stop”. He stopped choking the woman.
The woman also told gardaí of a number of other incidents which had occurred in the house in the last year. This included him producing a knife and threatening to kill her and possibly himself. He also produced a knuckle duster at one point. The woman said she feared her husband, who also repeatedly called her names.
The man was arrested and taken to a Garda station for questioning. He was detained three times where he made limited admissions. Garda Finnegan said that the injured party had extensive bruising and a cut to the inside of her lip.
A victim-impact statement was handed into the court.
Defence barrister Donal O’Sullivan, SC, said his client had stayed away from the woman in the year since the last incident occurred. They no longer live in the same house and he has access to his children with the situation now being “amicable”.
Mr O’Sullivan said his client accepted that he had behaved in an “appalling manner”.
Judge Helen Boyle had remanded the man in custody for sentencing on Thursday in order to receive an up-to-date probation and welfare service report.
The case was further adjourned until the new year as further time is needed for the preparation of the report.
The judge said she “didn’t think it would be appropriate” to grant bail in the case in the absence of a risk analysis report.
