Cork man accused of putting mother in chokehold and telling her she would die

Armed Support Unit responded to incident in Kinsale

The court heard the man was alleged to have consumed alcohol and cocaine and was highly intoxicated.

“You are going to die here tonight” a woman was told by her son at the family home in Kinsale on Friday night. Today gardaí objected to his bail because of fears for the safety of the victim.

These were among the allegations made by Garda Cormac Dineen at Cork District Court in the objection to bail.

“He is spending €1,000 a week on cocaine. He is extremely unpredictable when under the influence of intoxicants. He would pose a serious danger to his mother,” Garda Dineen said.

The man, who is aged in his mid-twenties, is charged with assault causing harm to his mother and threatening to kill her after 10pm on October 10.

“On October 10, there was a call to gardaí that the defendant has assaulted his mother.

“On speaking with her it was alleged that that she had been badly beaten by her son who also stated to her ‘You are going to die here tonight.’ She also suffered abrasions to her neck due to him attempting to choke her.

“He was alleged to have consumed alcohol and cocaine and was highly intoxicated.

“A request was made for the Armed Support Unit to attend and to assist in his arrest. Members of the ASU arrived at the scene and forcibly gained entry. The defendant was in his upstairs bedroom. He resisted and pepper spray was utilised by the ASU which immediately subdued him and he was restrained and arrested.

“During the course of the arrest a large steak knife was located on top of the bed he was lying on. It was underneath where he was lying. He did not use it.

“While his mother’s injuries are not too serious, she was extremely shocked by the incident and fortunate not to have suffered more serious injuries.

“During the assault he attacked his mother, dragging her across the floor, punching and kicking her in the head, putting her in a choke-hold for a number of minutes. She made attempts to scream but was unable to do so. She eventually broke free.

“Injuries included swelling to the back of her head, bruising on her arms and on her legs,” Garda Dineen testified.

The accused said he had alternative accommodation arranged and could go there. He said the knife in his room just happened to be there because he had a steak dinner some days earlier.

Defence solicitor Aoife Buttimer said that the €1,000-a-week cocaine use dated back to 2023 and that the young man had been in rehabilitation since then.

The defendant said in relation to October 10: “I don’t remember anything from the night. I am trying to make sense of it, whatever happened. I am not going to do anything to frighten her or make it worse.”

Cross-examined by Sergeant Aisling Murphy, the defendant said he had been back on drugs for one year. Judge Mary Dorgan refused bail and remanded the accused in custody until October 16 for DPP directions.