Man jailed for marital rape and hammer attack

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

A 42-year-old man was given a 12-year rape sentence, with the final two years suspended, by Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy at the Central Criminal Court. The proceedings were reported on 25 July 2016.

He also received sentences of seven-and-a-half years and five years for a hammer attack on his wife and her mother, and sentences ranging from three to five years for threats to kill and cause serious injury to his wife. All sentences run concurrently. He was ordered never to contact his wife directly again.

In June 2016, he was found guilty of raping, threatening to kill and threatening to cause serious harm to his wife in May and June 2014. He had denied those allegations. He pleaded guilty to the hammer attack. That attack took place in August 2014.

His wife told the trial that he threatened to cut her face with a kitchen knife and raped her on 25 May 2014. She said he threatened to kill her in a telephone call the following day.

Defence counsel read a letter in which the man apologised for the hammer attack and described his behaviour as inexcusable and out of character. His explanation included the marriage breakdown, being denied access to his son and redundancy towards the end of 2013. He said he was not seeking to justify his behaviour. He did not apologise for or refer to the other offences.

The judge described the hammer attack as premeditated, sustained and cowardly. In mitigation, she considered the guilty pleas, his lack of previous convictions and the absence of earlier violence in the marriage before its rapid deterioration in 2014.