Wife pleads guilty to assault following domestic dispute at house in Laois
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A DOMESTIC dispute between an ex-husband and wife ended up with the woman pleading guilty to assault when she came before the Family Law Court in Portlaoise last week.
Parties in family law cases cannot be identified by law.
Garda Sergeant JJ Kirby said that on 14 December last year a domestic dispute broke out in a house in Portlaoise between the couple when he brought back one of his daughters to her mother’s house.
As he was standing on the step of the stairs in the house, she pushed him with force, and he fell backwards.
Sgt Kirby said the 43-year-old woman had no previous convictions.
Defending solicitor Brian Duffy said the incident took place after a difficult marriage and a prolonged break up that had a toxic background. On the day the father was to drop back one of the children it is alleged he verbally abused the mother of his children calling her a psycho and commented on the state of the house. She went upstairs, placed her hand out and told him to stop as she did not like him saying those things in front of their children.
Defending solicitor Mr Duffy said that after his client pushed him, the man told her: “That’s definitely going to get you hung, drawn and quartered.”
Mr Duffy said: “She was mortified by what she had done with the children present.” He said a number of efforts had been made by gardaí to offer the woman an adult caution for the incident, but she had missed their calls for several reasons and so had ended up before the court.
Mr Duffy said his client was personally known to him and someone who he would trust implicitly with his children.
He said the woman had €300 with her to donate to the court poor box, if that’s what Judge Susan Fay ordered.
The judge said she would refer the woman to the Restorative Justice Programme and the Parenting When Separated Programme which is run by Barnardo’s.
Judge Fay adjourned the case to 20 April 2026 and said if the defendant engaged with the programmes she would consider imposing the Probation Act.
