Court hears man who exerts 'coercive control' on his wife put her in fear by hiding in upstairs cupboard

A man who exerts "coercive control" over his wife put her in fear when he hid in an upstairs cupboard for 40 minutes at their home, the family law court in Ennis has heard.

That was the allegation made by solicitor for the woman, Frank Doherty, during the course of a Safety Order application by his client.

In court, the woman said that “I am in fear” of her husband after the cupboard incident and a separate shower incident.

She said: “I am definitely being controlled.”

The woman said that her husband “is not able to communicate with me apart from verbal abuse directed at me”.

The woman said that the couple’s marriage “is gone” and they continue to share the family home.

Mr Doherty described the ‘cupboard’ incident as “a very serious incident” where his client called the Gardaí to the home after her husband was found crouching in an upstairs cupboard by a son of the couple.

The woman said that on returning from a family occasion with her son, there was no sign of her husband and “I said to my son - it looks like he is gone”.

She said that they had checked all around the house and there was no sign of her husband.

She said: “Forty minutes later - I was sitting in the sitting room.

"I opened a bottle of wine and poured a glass and was about to ring a friend to tell her ‘he is gone’ but I didn’t get the opportunity to tell her that because I heard an unmerciful roar."

“It was my son running down the stairs after he had opened an upstairs cupboard and found my husband crouching there.”

The woman said that she phoned the Gardaí and after they arrived the husband promised to go to his GP the next day.

She said that her husband leaving out his suitcase was to mislead her that he had left.

In response, Judge Durcan said: “This is not an issue of domestic violence. It is not an issue for this man to justify what he does in his own house.

Mr Doherty said: “It is not just domestic violence, it is coercive control as well - a controlling nature over my client.”

The woman said in evidence that the man also controlled her finances and she was recently having a shower when the water was cut off half way through - and this could only have been done by her husband from the hot-press upstairs.

Judge Durcan adjourned the case to July 4.