Husband was choking his wife until child shouted for him to stop, Cork court told

The court heard that the woman feared for her life

While the defendant pleaded guilty to one charge of non-fatal strangulation, Cork Circuit Criminal Court was told of other incidents. File picture: Larry Cummins

WARNING: Some readers may find the following report upsetting

A woman feared she was going to die when caught by the throat by her drunken and angry husband who only removed his hands when one of their young children shouted at him to stop.

Garda Donnchadh Finnegan investigated the case where the accused pleaded guilty to a charge of non-fatal strangulation. Judge Helen Boyle said there was a lot to consider from evidence given at the sentencing hearing at Cork Circuit Criminal Court and she adjourned sentencing until November 27.

The accused and the victim are both in their mid-40s and cannot be identified, Judge Boyle said.

Most of the complaints related to an incident on August 12, 2024, at the family home in County Cork. She said they were watching Netflix and that he was drinking a lot of alcohol. She went to bed and started to receive text messages from her husband. 

She went to sleep but woke up to see a number of messages on her phone, becoming increasingly abusive and threatening. The messages continued throughout the night and into the early hours of the morning. He also rang her several times during the night.

Garda Finnegan said: “She had the door locked and he came upstairs and started knocking on the bedroom door. She did not answer. He broke into the locked bedroom door using his body. He turned on the bedroom light, went to open the phone and read a text message before stating to her, 'Comply or die'. He also informed her that he would snap her neck, gesturing to her neck.

“The injured party said she feared for her life at this point. She attempted to get dressed but he manhandled her by holding her on the arm to keep her down. She pleaded with him to stop and attempted to stand up at which point he grabbed her by the upper arm and punched her to the left side of her jaw. 

“A struggle ensued between the two of them and the injured party ended up falling back onto the bed. At this point he got a pillow and put it over her face. 

The injured party believed she may be killed. 

"The injured party managed to push the pillow off at which point he attempted to hit her with a wild strike but missed.

“The injured party used this opportunity to get up and she ran from her room into the bedroom of her young children who had woken at this point. He attempted to talk her into coming out of the room. The injured party refused at which point he pulled her back into her bedroom by grabbing her by her arms.

“He was demanding information from her about text messages. She outlined how she was telling him to stop and stepping back away from him at which point he placed his two hands around her throat putting full pressure onto her throat, choking her. She describes his face at this point as twisted and angry.

“The injured party shouted 'Help' and 'Help me' a number of times. Their children ran into the room and one of them shouted for him to stop. He then stopped. But he stayed in the room for about half an hour, telling the children mammy and daddy are getting a divorce. 

"He went downstairs and fell asleep on the couch. After a period, the injured party managed to leave the house and she made arrangements to have her children minded outside the family home.

She described to the gardaí other incidents over the previous 12 months where her husband returned drunk, including an incident in August 2013 when he pulled the blanket off, put a large knife to her throat and informed her that he was going to kill her.

On another occasion she said her husband threatened that if she got into a relationship with another man he would kill him. She stated that on one occasion they were in the bedroom when he put on a knuckle duster and said he could kill her before leaving the room.

While the defendant pleaded guilty to one charge of non-fatal strangulation, this plea was entered on the basis that full evidence would also be given, to include the other incidents.

Defence senior counsel, Donal O’Sullivan, asked Judge Boyle to take into consideration the effect that any imprisonment of the accused would have on the injured party and their children.

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