14 months’ prison for man who tried to strangle former partner

A MAN, who allegedly tried to strangle his former partner at her home, was given prison sentences coming to 14 months in total when the case was finalised at Monaghan District Court last week.

At the court on February 11 last, the defendant was convicted in his absence on two charges, one in relation to assault causing harm and the other in respect of assault causing harm by way of strangulation, as outlined respectively under Section 3, and Section 3A, of the revised Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997.

Judge Raymond Finnegan was told at the February hearing that that the man, who is in his early 40s but cannot be named for legal reasons, had called to the house, which is in a rural part of Co Monaghan, while in an intoxicated state on a date in January 2024.

The injured party had stated in court that she was in a relationship with the man for 13 years. She had refused to let him in when he called on the day before the incident, and when he came back on the evening of the offences, she had been preparing food for her children, some of whom were outside.

The man was intoxicated and started “messing” with the food, which she asked him to stop doing. She then took a younger child from him and, while she was doing this, he hit her a box on the side of the face, causing her teeth to chip against the back of the child’s head.

She said she told the man to leave, but that he turned back put his hand round her throat. “He squeezed until I couldn’t breathe,” she said, adding that she passed out at that stage, and didn’t remember what happened until she came to again with her children standing over her.

Further evidence had been given by two of the older children, including an adult daughter who recalled how she managed, after a struggle, to get the defendant’s hands from around her mother’s throat. The daughter in her evidence had stated that the man had his two hands on her mother’s neck and had her up against the wall with such force that her face had turned blue and his own hands were purple.

The woman confirmed to Inspector Michael O’Donoghue, prosecuting, that she didn’t initially report the matter or seek medical attention, as she was afraid of what might happen if she did, and because she was also worried about the children if she had to go into hospital.

She also alleged that text messages were sent to her by the defendant following the incident, including one that night in which, she said, he had threatened to kill her.

Judge Finnegan had convicted the defendant in his absence on both counts and issued a bench warrant for his arrest for sentencing. He had also commended the daughter for the actions she had taken during the incident.

Not ‘good reading’

When the case came up for finalisation last week, Judge Finnegan told the defendant’s barrister, Sara Brennan (instructed by Paul McCormack, solicitor), that a victim impact report that was handed into court “doesn’t make good reading”. He said he recalled the case very clearly.

Ms Brennan said her client was a separated man, and that he had now lost his access to the two children he had with the woman in question. He worked as a builder on a relatively casual basis. While he had previous convictions including drink driving and public order breaches, he had no history of violence to others.

But Judge Brennan commented that the defendant had dragged the case out, firstly by contesting the allegations, and later by failing to turn up for court hearings. These actions had put the woman and her children through the “absolute trauma” of having to come into the court to give evidence.

“There is very little credit that I can give him for the way he has conducted himself on these matters,” was how Judge Finnegan summed it up.

Ms Brennan accepted that her client hadn’t been present on the day the actual evidence was given, but pointed out that he was in court on two occasions prior to that.

Judge Finnegan accepted this, but said the evidence he had heard put the case “very much at the higher end” of what the court was used to dealing with. With that in mind, he said he was imposing a seven-month prison term on the charge of assault causing serious harm relating to the strangling incident.

A consecutive seven-month sentence was handed down for the second assault charge, with the judge pointing out that this meant a total of 14 months was being imposed.

He fixed recognisances for appeal at €500 in the defendant’s own bond, but with a requirement that €1,000 be lodged in cash by an independent guarantor approved by gardaí.

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