Husband (20s) jailed for sex assault and coercive control of wife

Claire Henry

A man in his 20s has been jailed for three and a half years for the sexual assault and coercive control of his wife.

The Central Criminal Court heard that the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found guilty of one count of sexual assault, which took place on March 18, 2022, and coercive control on dates between January 1, 2019, and September 15, 2022, by a jury earlier this month. He has 13 previous convictions and is currently the subject of an arrest warrant from the UK.

Passing sentence on Friday, Judge Patrick McGrath said the man was convicted by unanimous verdicts of coercive control and sexual assault earlier this month.

McGrath said he heard evidence that throughout their marriage the man used derogatory comments like calling his wife a “fat bitch". The man also threatened he would throw acid in her face and that the only way she was leaving him was in a coffin.

The judge said the coercive control was in the upper range of the scale and set a headline sentence of four years. He set a headline sentence of 18 months for the count of sexual assault. The judge noted the way in which the case was met and that many of the incidents were not disputed.

McGrath sentenced the man to three years and six months for the counts of coercive control and 15 months for sexual assault. Both sentences are to run concurrently and have been backdated to April 23 of this year.

An investigating garda told Anne Rowland, prosecuting, that the injured party and the defendant had known each other since they were teenagers. During the trial, the jury heard that before the couple got married, there had been an occasion where the defendant had kicked and punched his then partner.

While the newly married couple were on honeymoon, the woman woke to find her husband, the defendant, on top of her, punching her on the side of the head. The court heard that soon after they returned from their honeymoon, the woman found out she was pregnant.

During her pregnancy, the woman was punched on both the face and in the stomach, with her husband saying he did not care if “the baby was dead.”

The court heard that on March 17, 2022, the young woman went out with her friends. The following evening, when she was lying in bed, the man got into bed beside her and accused her of cheating on him the previous night. He then went on to touch her genital area outside of her clothing.

In April 2022, the woman separated from her husband and made a formal complaint to the gardaí in 2023. He was arrested, detained and interviewed.

The woman read her victim impact statement to the court, outlining how “incredibly grateful I am for the kindness and support that I have received” from the court’s services.

“When I was a little girl, I believed that getting married would be like a fairytale and I would live happily ever after, and that the person you married would be your best friend,” she said.

“That did not happen to me,” she added.

The woman went on to outline that she was “gaslit, controlled, betrayed and disrespected”.

She said that “the physical scars have healed, but the emotional scars have not.”

“The shame is not on me; it is on you,” she said.

She concluded by saying the man was “not sorry for abusing me; he is just sorry that he got caught.”

The garda agreed with John Berry, defending, that his client was between the ages of 18 and 22 when he carried out the coercive control. He also agreed that a letter of apology had been written by the defendant to the injured party.

The court heard that the injured party was canvassed, but she did not wish to accept the letter of apology from her former husband.

Berry said that his client accepts the verdicts of the jury, regarding both the sexual assault and the coercive control. He also told the court that his client will not be appealing the verdict.

Counsel said his client is fully aware that a custodial element is coming and has outlined that all contact between the defendant and the injured party will be done via solicitors.

Berry asked the court to sentence his client primarily on the coercive control charge.