Coercive control: Conspiracy theorist's reign of terror over family

Man told daughter chopping up her mammy would be 'as easy as chopping a tomato', court heard

Paul Harkin, 49, outside Galway court.

A man waged a "regime of fear and terror" against his now former wife, telling their nine-year-old daughter at one point that chopping up her mammy would be “as easy as chopping a tomato”, before telling her and her seven-year-old brother on another occasion how he would dismember their mammy’s body and put it in a box if she didn’t behave and do as she was told.

Derry native Paul Harkin, aged 49, with a former address at Kilchreest, Loughrea, Co Galway, pleaded guilty before Galway Circuit Criminal Court last January to knowingly and persistently engaging in behaviour that was controlling or coercive on a date unknown between June 24 and August 13 last year at an unknown location, which had a serious effect on a woman who is or was his spouse, and the behaviour was such that a reasonable person would consider it likely to have a serious effect on a relevant person, contrary to Section 39 (1) and (3) of the Domestic Violence Act, 2018.

Sentence was adjourned until Tuesday for the preparation of up-to-date psychiatric and probation reports.

Harkin was married for 10 years to Fiona Clarke prior to him being remanded in custody last September.

He believed in several conspiracy theories and his coercive control of the family escalated on the run-up to the children returning to school last September, as he feared they would be vaccinated against Covid-19, which he did not believe was real.

He also believed they would be brain-washed by the education system and wanted to home-school them himself, using conspiracy theory sources.

He made veiled threats to his wife that he would burn their home down, and the homes of her extended family without warning, resulting in loss of life if she did not behave and do as she was told.

Victim impact

In her victim impact statement, which Ms Clarke read to the court, she said she felt fear and dread inside her every day before Harkin was taken into custody.

“I now see the control Paul had over me. I was too immersed in everything at the time to realise the seriousness of what was happening. I knew what he was doing wasn’t right but I was afraid of the consequences of going against him. It was fear of the alternative threat that made me compliant. Paul threatened that if I went against him he would hurt my [extended] family. I felt I was responsible, not only for myself, but for the safety of 12 other people.

I thought I was doing right by staying together. I thought I could cope with anything as long as our two children were okay. I asked Paul a few times in the past to leave but he wouldn’t.

“On July 27 last year, Paul threatened to chop me up and put me in a box. He said I needed to learn to behave. He said he would start with my arms, then my legs and finally my head. He said all of this in front of the children.

“I didn’t know what to do. I was afraid of what might happen if I reported this. I only found out afterwards that when I wasn’t in the room, Paul told our daughter that to chop me up would be as easy as chopping a tomato.

“I believe Paul was getting to the stage of following through on his threats. I believe it was only a matter of time before something more sinister happened,” Ms Clarke said.

She said she doubted if Harkin knew the effect his actions had on their children’s mental health and they had both needed counselling.

Recalling the dinner table incident, Ms Clarke said within the space of one week, Harkin had gone from threatening to chop her up to destroying items in the kitchen and frightening them all.

“I was afraid to ring the guards that night as I thought that might escalate the situation and then we might be in even more danger,” she said.

Ms Clarke said Harkin doesn’t believe in the legal system, and that he thinks he is above the law and untouchable. She said she didn’t believe he would abide by the barring order she currently has in place and that once released, he will come to their house to see the children.

She said she now firmly believes that if she hadn’t reported Harkin to gardaí when she did, something more serious would have happened by the end of September.

Ms Clarke said she lived in fear for the future when Harkin got out.

“I went against Paul by speaking out and I am now terrified of the consequences. I don’t know if he will want revenge,” she said.

She asked for privacy going forward for her and her children as they had been through enough and deserved to be allowed to get on with their lives. “We deserve to be left to deal with things in our own way and not have the whole country taking about us,” she concluded.

Litany of abuse

Detective Sergeant Paul Duane gave evidence Ms Clarke made a complaint to gardaí on August 28 last year, outlining a litany of abuse and threats made to her by her husband over a long period of time, which amounted to coercive control.

He said Harkin controlled everything in her life and her children’s lives.

“She and the two children walked around the house ‘on eggshells’ to try and avoid his rages,” Det Duane said.

The court heard Harkin was a former engineer, factory worker and more recently taxi driver, before becoming a stay-at-home dad who looked after the children while his wife went out to work. He spent most days drinking, according to the evidence.

Det Duane said the first incident Ms Clarke complained of occurred on June 25 last year. Harkin was drinking at home since the previous day and he upended the children’s trampoline, swings and slides in the garden in a rage after he refused to let her bring them to her parent’s house so she could go to work. 

On July 7, Harkin told her he would not allow the children return to GAA training as they would have to fill out a Covid form and he didn’t want them completing a health questionnaire and watching a video on Covid as by doing so would mean agreeing that Covid 19 was real and was conforming to the Government, Det Duane said.

Then, on July 8, Harkin started drinking at 3pm and became verbally abusive to Ms Clarke in front of the children for over an hour and a half.

Two days later, Harken started drinking in the morning. He became verbally abusive towards her in front of the children and forced her to burn her collection of music CD’s.

On July 27, the family went to stay in a hotel in Kilkenny for a break. Harkin became very upset with Ms Clarke when he overheard her speaking to a man in a shop about the prospect of children going back to school.

“He became increasingly obsessed with the children not returning to school because he didn’t want them to conform to the regulations and he was concerned about mandatory vaccines on return to school,” Det Duane explained.

In her statement to gardaí, Ms Clarke said Harkin threatened to kill her that day in the hotel room and threatened he would cut her up.

Det Duane said the couple’s nine-year-old daughter said in her statement about the incident in the hotel: “He talked about chopping up mammy. He said it would be as easy as chopping a tomato.” 

The couple’s son told gardaí “Daddy said to all three of us that he was going to chop mammy up and put her in a box.” 

Ms Clarke told gardaí that on July 28, as the family were driving home from Kilkenny, Harkin told her to withdraw €300 from her bank account or he would break the TV when they got home. She withdrew the money.

Matters came to a head on August 3 last year at the family dinner table.

Ms Clarke said Harkin started telling the children how useless their mother was.

“He told me I was a useless fat, c**t. I’m stupid as are his parents and all his family and my parents and all my family. Everyone around him is stupid and useless and can all fu**k off.” 

She said he then threw his water glass and dinner plate at the kitchen door. The children were screaming and their daughter begged her father to stop.

He grabbed the jug of water and threw it across the floor. He tried to grab their plates too but they hung onto them. He stuck a fork into the table and then turned the table over.

“We kept pleading with him to stop but he was totally out of control.

He kept shouting abuse at us. He told me he was going to kill me and my parents and my brother and his family.

“He said I needed to understand that he was the boss and he would tell us all who to do. I was to obey his commands and do what he said and when.

“He told me if I went to anyone he would kill them too. If I went to my family or to a solicitor, he would destroy everyone,” Ms Clarke told gardaí.

Harkin threw two stools outside before coming towards Ms Clarke with his fists clenched. She said he would definitely have hit her only for their then eight-year-old daughter stood between them, begging her father to stop.

She and the children went to bed terrified that night, like many other nights, while Harkin stayed downstairs drinking.

He continued drinking the next day and threatened to kill her again.

On August 6, Harkin told her she could either leave or kill herself as he was the children’s protector.

“He then told the children that no guards would ever tell him what to do. In fact, he would tell the guards what to do. No court will tell him what to do either. He will tell the court. He then told the children about abortion and how the constitution was allowing people to kill babies.” 

On August 13, Ms Clarke secretly recorded her husband as he verbally abused her in front of her daughter.

Det Duane said Harkin told his daughter that her mother was stupid.

“He talks about his conspiracies about vaccines, telling his daughter that it will stop them from having children and that her mother is doing noting to stop it, only watching television."

Det Duane said Harkin could be heard shouting at Ms Clarke, threatening to burn the TV, the car and the house.

Harkin can he heard telling Ms Clarke she is too stupid to realise doctors are trying to kill her children.

Det Duane said he arrested Harkin on September 2, 2020. Initially, Harkin claimed he could hear him but could not understand him.

Later, he spoke freely to the detective about his beliefs. When questioned about his wife’s allegations, Harkin made no comment and no admissions, the detective said.

Det Duane confirmed Harkin had previous convictions from Northern Ireland in 1998 for threatening to kill a former partner there, for two aggravated burglaries and causing criminal damage for which he had received a two-year suspended sentence.

Tragic case

Paul Carroll, defending, said this was a tragic case which showed his client’s progression from somebody who started out with ideas that didn’t impinge on anyone at first but then progressed to the absurd beliefs that were held regarding anti-vaccine, anti-medical, anti-education etc and which had got to the point where there was outrageous, absurd behaviour.

He said there was no doubt alcohol played a part in Harkin’s actions. The psychiatric report before the court stated that while he did not have a mental illness, Harkin had displayed mental health traits such as a personality disorder and a self-importance disorder and he had been put on anti-depressants, he said.

Mr Carroll also noted the probation report before the court deemed his client to be at a high risk of reoffending at present.

He said his client would abide by any conditions imposed by the court and wanted to move back to Derry where a relation had offered him a job as a mechanic. 

Judge Rory McCabe said Harkin’s 1998 convictions were of concern as they were similar to the charge now before the court and that, along with the evidence presented to the court, showed he had "form".

Mr Carroll said there had been medical intervention since then and his client was now willing to abide with the court’s conditions and, hopefully, that would give solace to Ms Clarke.

Judge McCabe said the evidence reflected a shattered relationship which had severe implications for those involved.

He noted there was a serious alcohol problem and entrenched convictions with an insistence on Harkin’s part of being obeyed, particularly by his wife and controlling all his family, particularly his children.

He said the level of threats and coercion led to a regime of fear and terror which Harkin waged on those members of his family who should have been able to rely on him for protection.

The impact on the victims was impossible to quantify, he said, but the “palpable sense of relief” Harkin’s wife articulated since he was removed from her life was perfectly understandable.

“He [Harkin] is entitled to his opinions, but he is not entitled to force others to believe them, and make threats if there is failure to comply,” the judge said.

He noted the level of culpability was high as the assessment from the psychiatrist was that Harkin did not suffer from any mental illness and was aware of what he was doing.

The judge placed the headline sentence at four-and-a-half years which he said, reflected the gravity of the offence, which carried a maximum tariff of five years.

Taking the early plea, Harkin’s expression of remorse, and his intention to leave the jurisdiction and go to Derry as mitigating factors, Judge McCabe said the sentence he had in mind was three years.

However, he said he was not ready to finalise the structure of that sentence until next week as this was a complex matter and he needed more time to consider the reports before the court.