Husband who was choking his wife until child shouted for him to stop remanded in custody

Incident occurred at family home in Co Cork

Judge Helen Boyle remanded the accused man in custody until February 13, 2026.

A woman feared she was going to die by strangulation until one of her young children told her husband to stop and today he was remanded in custody until February to allow time for a risk assessment in relation to future domestic violence.

Judge Helen Boyle remanded the accused in custody for just over two weeks until today for a probation report. However, in the absence of such a report, the judge said she was not prepared to release the accused from prison pending sentence because no risk assessment was available to the court.

Judge Boyle remanded the accused man in custody until February 13, 2026. As for what will happen on that date, Judge Boyle added: “This man is clearly at risk of a custodial sentence.” 

Garda Donnchadh Finnegan investigated the case where the accused pleaded guilty to a charge of non-fatal strangulation. The accused and the victim are both in their mid-forties and cannot be identified because of the possible identification of children in the case, Judge Boyle said.

The garda said that on August 12, 2024, at the family home in Co Cork, “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 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.

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.