Man convicted of raping wife at Central Criminal Court

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

A man was convicted of raping his wife at the Central Criminal Court. The proceedings were reported on 30 June 2016.

He pleaded not guilty to rape, assault causing harm and five counts of threats to kill or cause serious harm. Those charges concerned the period between 24 May and 1 August 2014.

Jurors convicted him of raping his wife in their home on 25 May 2014 while their son slept downstairs. They also convicted him of threatening to cut her face immediately beforehand and threatening to kill her over the phone the following day.

Jurors failed to reach verdicts on charges that he head-butted her and threatened serious damage when they met to discuss custody of their son. The jury had previously been instructed to return a not-guilty verdict on a separate threat charge.

He had already pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife with a hammer. That attack occurred on 7 August 2014. His defence counsel suggested that house ownership, custody, bitterness or revenge might explain the allegations.

Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy ordered his registration as a sex offender and remanded him in custody for sentencing on 18 July.