A man who punched his former partner, held a broken bottle to her neck, threatened to kill her and imprisoned her in his home has had his two-year jail term increased to three years by the Court of Appeal.
The three-judge court quashed the original sentence after the Director of Public Prosecutions appealed it on the grounds that it was unduly lenient. They substituted the sentence for one of three years and six months with the final six months suspended for 18 months.
Ms Justice Tara Burns delivered the court's ruling on Tuesday afternoon, saying the original sentence of two years and six months with the final six months suspended, did not adequately reflect the aggravating factors.
She said the offending was "very serious" and was aggravated by the false imprisonment and the fact that it took place in a domestic setting. The original sentence, she said, did not adequately reflect those factors.
At the Central Criminal Court trial in 2023, Detective Garda Brian Holland gave evidence that the parties, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had been in a relationship for some years but at the time of the offences they were not together.
The victim was in the defendant's home eating food when he accused her of having an affair.
He threatened her with a glass bottle, fractured her nose with a punch and struck her. When she tried to take the bottle from him, he smashed it off a table and told her he was going to kill her.
She believed he was going to stab her to death with the bottle and begged him not to kill her. When she ran, he assaulted her again by pulling her hair, punching her in the stomach and banging her head against a door.
When she tried to make for the front door, he blocked her exit and then knelt on her head on the floor.
She managed to call 999 by secretly taking his phone from his pocket.
The call was recorded by the emergency operator and the recording was used as evidence at his trial. Gardaí were able to trace the call and arrived a short time later.
Conviction
The 36-year-old accused, who has an address in Cork, denied wrongdoing but was convicted by a jury of assault causing harm, production of a bottle during an assault, threatening to kill and false imprisonment at his home on February 13th, 2019.
He was further charged with seven counts of rape and one of aggravated sexual assault, but the jury found him not guilty of four rape counts and could not agree on a verdict in respect of the other charges.
In May 2023, Ms Justice Eileen Creedon set a headline sentence of three years' imprisonment but reduced that to two years and six months, having considered mitigating factors, such as the defendant's good work record and lack of previous convictions. She suspended the final six months of the sentence.
In submissions to the court on Tuesday, Alice Fawsitt SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said the judge had erred by choosing the assault charge as the central offence rather than the false imprisonment.
The maximum sentence for assault was five years' imprisonment while false imprisonment can attract a life sentence, counsel said.
Had the judge nominated the false imprisonment as the central offence, Ms Fawsitt said the three-year headline would have been too low given the serious nature of the offending.
Ray Boland SC, for the defendant, said the trial judge was in the best position to understand the nuances of the case. The assault, he said, was the central offence.
Ms Justice Burns said the sentencing judge had sentenced the defendant for assault, taking the false imprisonment and other charges into account.
However, Ms Justice Burns found that the judge had erred by not adequately accounting for the false imprisonment as an aggravating feature.
She said the offence happened in a domestic situation, which is a further aggravating factor under the Domestic Violence Act.
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.
