Dublin man sentenced to two years for coercive control

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

A 25-year-old Dublin man was sentenced to two years in prison for coercive control, with credit for time already served. Judge Orla Crowe imposed the sentence.

He pleaded guilty to one count of coercive control covering dates from 26 December 2019 to 4 August 2020. The proceedings were reported on 4 July 2023.

A garda told prosecuting counsel Garrett Baker SC that the man and the complainant remained in a relationship and that she now denied being subjected to coercive control. Mr Baker said she had later told gardaí she wished to withdraw her statement, saying she had been on medication at the time.

The court heard that the man repeatedly struck, threatened and verbally abused the woman. In June 2020 he hit her while she was driving, said he would turn the car towards a tree and went to grab the steering wheel. In early August, he assaulted her repeatedly while they were staying at a B&B.

Defending counsel Aidan Doyle SC suggested that both parties’ lives had been out of control because of drug addiction, thefts and shoplifting. The garda said she was unaware of any addiction issues and noted that the man was involved in thefts at the time. Mr Doyle said the relationship was undoubtedly coercive and that his client had engaged with drug counselling in custody.

The garda agreed that the man had spent just over 13 months in custody on the matter. A separate charge of making threats to kill or cause serious harm to the complainant’s mother was taken into consideration.