Sent to prison for coercive control

“The impact of all that has happened to me can’t be put into words,” a female victim of assault and coercive control at the hands of an ex-partner told a hearing at the April sittings of the Monaghan Circuit Criminal Court.

Vidzajs Burkevics with an address at a flat in Belgium Park, Monaghan, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, with the final 12 months suspended, when he plead guilty to the coercive control charge, with a charge of assault causing harm to the injured party taken into account.

Passing sentence, Judge John Aylmer said the accused’s behaviour constituted very serious offending, which had an extremely negative impact on the injured party, leading to her becoming suicidal. The court couldn’t contemplate suspending the entirety of the sentence but the judge said he would suspend the final 12 months in light of the accused’s engagement with a rehabilitative programme and other matters advanced in mitigation.

Replying to prosecutor Frank Martin BL, an investigating Garda said the injured party made a complaint on August 5, 2021, of being a victim of domestic abuse. She said she had been in a relationship lasting 13 months with the accused and had been subjected to assault, including punching and biting, and emotional abuse.

She was in a distressed state when she reported the matter and she made a further statement on August 14. The injured party subsequently attended the Garda Station on further occasions and provided further information. On one occasion she indicated the accused was attempting to contact her by email and on social media.

Statements made by the injured party were read to the court asserting the accused subjected her to physical and emotional abuse, punching her in the face on a number of occasions and causing her a black eye.

The accused used his phone to make an explicit image of her and she found this distressing. He sent the image to her daughter, which caused great distress and he threatened to send the image to her workmates and friends and was manipulating her in this regard.

The injured party met the accused through Facebook and, after a while, she said he became controlling, and didn’t like her being on her phone in his presence. He was jealous of her contact with other family members, including her daughter.

In May or June 2021, the accused slapped her in the face without provocation and punched her in the stomach. She received 130 abusive WhatsApp messages from him.

She described another domestic violence incident in which the accused punched her in the face, causing her nose to bleed. She became withdrawn.

“I became a shell of myself and stopped eating,” the complainant stated.

She said Burkevics would turn up at her place of work to check up on her.

The investigating Garda told Mr Martin the accused had three previous convictions for road traffic offences. He was co-operative throughout his arrest but made no admissions and denied the allegations. There was a photograph before the court of the complainant’s injuries but no medical evidence.

Reading her victim impact statement to the court, the injured party said the accused started hitting her early in the relationship and verbally abused her, calling her a slut and a whore. He got pleasure in causing her pain and, on one occasion, threatened to kill her.

“He was always taking my work phone from me and he gained access to my emails and social media,” the complainant stated. She said the accused prevented her from visiting her family and friends. He threatened her in front of her family and children and on one occasion used a pair of garden shears to threaten her daughter.

After a motorcycle accident, she became the accused’s carer for a period, but his anger and rage grew and she was blamed for his accident and for the time during which he was incapacitated.

The injured party also described a suicide attempt and her subsequent hospitalisation and treatment.

Mitigation

Defence counsel Sara Brennan BL told the court that Burkevics was aged 35 and had a limited criminal record, which arose subsequent to this offending. He had no previous convictions for violence.

Referring to a number of probation reports before the court, Ms Brennan said Burkevics initially had trouble accepting responsibility and blame for his behaviour but he eventually acknowledged and progressively accepted it.

Burkevics now understands the seriousness of the charges and is fearful of a custodial sentence. He has been in a new relationship for 12 months and his current partner is in court and is supportive of him. They are expecting a child.

He is employed in an engineering firm and also works part-time as a security guard. He is taking part in a rehabilitative programme.

“There is absolutely no doubt this is very serious offending,” Ms Brennan stated, “and Mr Burkevics is well aware of that.”

She said he has now done a lot of work through a programme designed to assist men with violent behaviours. Burkevics accepts the appalling way he treated the injured party. He has expressed his apologies and appreciates the very profound impact on the injured party. He has learned a great deal from his programme and hopes the court can be reassured there will be no repeat of this offending.

Mr Martin told the court that the maximum sentence for the coercive control offence is five years’ imprisonment.

At the subsequent sentencing hearing, the court heard the victim impact statement of the injured party, from which it was clear the accused’s offending had an extremely negative impact on her for over 12 months, to the extent that she made a serious attempt on her own life.

Judge Aylmer said he viewed this offending as being on the upper end of the scale, having regard to the impact on the injured party – the appropriate sentence is one of four years’ imprisonment before consideration of mitigation.

In mitigation the accused had entered a plea of guilty, albeit very late. The accused has no relevant previous convictions, and he co-operated with the investigation, although denying the offending.

Initially there was a negative probation report, but the accused had eventually engaged very positively with the Probation Service. The service had been anxious the accused engage with the Men Overcoming Violent Emotions (MOVE) programme and he had very seriously engaged in that.

Judge Aylmer said Burkevics is to get significant credit for that and be encouraged in his efforts at rehabilitation. Therefore he reduced the sentence to three years’ imprisonment.

Judge Aylmer said the final 12 months of the sentence will be suspended on the accused entering a bond of €100 to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for 12 months, with the condition that he continue under the supervision of the Probation Service, comply with all directions of the service and keep them informed of any change of address.