Man pleads guilty to breaching barring order

The man pleaded guilty to breaching a barring order. Stock Picture: iStock

A woman whose husband was barred from her home in Cork returned at night to find him in her bed and, when she challenged him, he started shouting at her.

The 44-year-old man pleaded guilty at an in-camera hearing of Cork District Court to breaching a barring order by turning up at her home on the night of July 11.

He pleaded guilty to a second offence of breaching the same order by putting her in fear when he phoned her five times in seven minutes on the night of July 17.

Judge Olann Kelleher told the accused man, “These are very serious charges. You are not going to jail today but the two charges carry 12-month prison sentences. I will give you one chance."

He imposed a five-month sentence, suspended for a period of two years.

Sergeant John Kelleher said the woman was out that night when her husband, from whom she is separated, turned up at the house and was allowed in by the couple’s teenage son.

Later, when she returned home, she went up to her bedroom and found the defendant in her bed. Sgt Kelleher said that when she told him to leave the house, he started shouting at her.

He eventually left, but on the night on July 17 he phoned her, in breach of a barring order, and made abusive and threatening comments to her.

He asked could he come to the house and repair the locks. When she told him not to, he got angry and screamed down the phone, calling her a bitch. He made five phone calls in seven minutes.

Frank Buttimer, solicitor, said, “Unfortunately, there are differences between the parties and they have discontinued their relationship.”