Convicted murderer who tried to suffocate wife avoids further jail time

Marius Rucinskas received an 18-month jail term, but the judge noted the accused had already been remanded in custody on the charge for almost a year and suspended whatever remained of the 18 months

Lithuanian Marius Rucinskas, a convicted murderer, who pleaded guilty to the charge of assault causing harm to his wife on January 1, 2020. 

A convicted murderer who attacked his wife and tried to rip off her eyelash extensions at their home in West Cork had the balance of a jail sentence suspended.

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin imposed an 18-month jail term, noted the accused had already been remanded in custody on the charge for almost a year and suspended whatever remained of the 18 months.

The judge told the culprit this was on condition that he stay away from Castletownbere and have no contact with the victim for the next three years.

Garda Laura O’Sullivan said Marius Rucinskas had kept to an undertaking to stay away from Castletownbere since the case was adjourned earlier this year. Prior to that he had been remanded in custody.

Rucinskas pleaded guilty to the charge of assault causing harm to his wife on January 1, 2020, at their home at the time in Castletownbere, Co Cork. He is now living with a friend in Cork City.

The New Year's Day assault

Garda O’Sullivan said the accused felt he was not appreciated for presents he had bought at Christmas. Over the next two to three hours, he assaulted his wife several times. He left the house a number of times, drove off and then returned a short time later.

He assaulted her by punching and kicking her in the kitchen and following her upstairs to continue the assaults when she tried to hide in an upstairs bedroom.

Gda O’Sullivan said the most serious aspect of the assaults occurred when he forced her face down on to a bed and pushed her face into the bed to the extent that she was in danger of suffocation.

It was later established the accused had smashed a number of phones, laptops and the television in the house. He was shouting about how ungrateful she was to him.

“He started trying to rip off her eyelash extensions,” Gda O’Sullivan said.

The accused said on the night of the attack that if he got €2,000 from her the next day, he would be out of her life and she would never see him again.

Murder conviction in Lithuania

He had a number of previous convictions in Lithuania, including a 15-year sentence for premeditated murder and a false imprisonment-type charge.

Gda O’Sullivan said previously: “As far as I am aware she is willing to take him back.” 

At the sentencing hearing, defence barrister Dermot Sheehan said the defendant’s wife had been in contact with the accused by phone in recent times.