A 41-year-old man who repeatedly raped and subjected his wife to beatings, causing her to suffer a miscarriage, has been jailed for 13 years.
The Nigerian man was also sentenced for threatening to kill or cause serious harm to both the woman and her sister when they tried to get back her “bride price”, thereby ending the marriage.
The court heard that a plan had been made to put the victim’s brother’s name on the birth cert of the child she had with the accused, as her brother had been having difficulty getting European residency.
The court heard that the accused was happy to go along with that plan, and he later came to Ireland to live with her and her baby.
All parties involved were from the same area of Nigeria. The man blackmailed his wife that he would tell the authorities about her putting another man’s name on the birth cert of his child to gain residency in Ireland.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his then wife, was found guilty by a jury in Wexford last August of eight counts of rape, four counts of assault and two counts of threatening to kill or cause serious harm.
The court heard there were repeated rapes and humiliation over the course of the six-year marriage, and he continues to deny his offending.
Detective Garda Patricia Lonergan told the court that the victim came to live with her sister in Ireland as a child.
Det Gda Lonergan read victim impact statements to the court in which the woman (28) described herself as a domestic abuse survivor and a walking corpse.
“What was done to me, I would not wish on my worst enemy,” she said.
“It is only by the grace of God did I did not kill myself,” she added.
She said: “Truly it felt like no one cared, and I could not save myself because of the blackmail”.
Her sister said in her victim impact statement: “The last seven to nine years has been an experience… in a horror of his making that has been saved by the justice system.”
She told Mr John O’Kelly SC, prosecuting, that the man had been living in a number of countries before coming to Ireland.
The victim knew him since they were in Nigeria and by the time she was in sixth year of school, she started messaging him and the relationship became serious.
She visited him in Spain and later became pregnant with his child. They were married in a traditional marriage in Nigeria in absentia as the court heard you do not need to be present for your own marriage.
“Difficulties arose because he (the accused) became upset that another man’s name was on the birth cert”, the court was told.
The man was being mocked by his friends because his brother-in-law’s name was on his child’s birth certificate and that this man was able to obtain residency in Ireland months before he was himself.
The abuse started with beating and proceeded to rape. Any complaint would result in him threatening to go to the guards about what she had done, and it was described as blackmail.
He repeatedly struck her with a buggy in front of her children. On another occasion, he threw a pot of boiling rice at her, and after she came back from the doctor, he raped her. One of the beatings caused her to lose her second child.
In the summer of 2022, he raped her and applied chilli powder to her genitals, which was extremely painful. It was then she went to a solicitor and the gardaí and got a barring order.
The woman told her family in Nigeria about the abuse, and they went to the king to get the “bride price” back, which would “effectively lead to divorce”.
Colman Cody SC, defending, told the court his client does not accept the verdicts of the jury.
The court heard he continues to deny his offending. A probation report before the court places him at high risk of re-offending.
At the Central Criminal Court in Dublin on Monday, Mr Justice David Keane sentenced the man to 13 years for the rape offences and concurrent terms of four years for the assaults and four years for the threats to kill against the woman and her sister.
Mr Justice Keane noted the man had not acknowledged his offending behaviour. He ordered he undergo post-release supervision for a period of two years to rehabilitate him and to monitor his conduct.
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.
