Seven years, seven cases: How the criminalisation of coercive control is changing the justice system for Kerry’s survivors
The KerrymanSmall yarn teddy bears sit on kitchen shelves and around the entry of the Kerry’s women’s shelter. They are gifts for children donated by Kenmare knitters, ready for anyone who needs a cuddle after fleeing their home.
Women come to the shelter from all over Kerry, from all backgrounds.
Increasingly, they ask about coercive control, say shelter workers at Adapt Kerry, Women’s Refuge and Support Services.
“Sometimes they come in and they’ve heard whispers,” says Jessica Fox, the shelter’s legal advocate. “[They say,] ‘I’ve heard this is a criminal offence and I’d like to see if I can explore that’.”
It has been seven years since the Domestic Violence Act 2018 criminalised coercive control. Intended as a powerful shift in domestic abuse legislation, its inclusion broadens domestic abuse crimes from a focus on stand-alone incidents to a pattern of behaviour that considered the psychological impact of constant monitoring, financial control and isolation. It came into effect in January 2019.
Seven years on, are Kerry’s survivors better protected?
To date, seven coercive control cases from Kerry have come before district courts, according to the Courts Service data released to The Kerryman.
They represent just over six per cent of 114 coercive control cases in Ireland since 2019.
They include a case from Listowel District Court in 2021, cases in Tralee in 2021 and 2023, and four from Tralee in 2025. All were sent forward from the district court.
At least two have resulted in convictions. In one, the complainant passed away and the trial could not proceed.
Last month, a case originating at Tralee District Court saw its accused convicted after pleading guilty. The court heard how he beat his wife with a livestock stick and blamed his behaviour on his family’s trait of short tempers.
Another case commenced in the Central Criminal Court in Cork on Monday, to be tried alongside a rape charge.
As coercive control cases come through the court system, awareness increases, says Fox.
“As you see more cases coming up and sentences given, I think that will start to register,” says Fox, who practiced as a solicitor in Australia where she specialised in family law and domestic violence cases. “We just haven’t seen enough gone through yet.”
Understanding takes time, says Catherine Gayson, the refuge co-ordinator.
“A lot of women don’t realise they’re being coercively controlled until you ask them, is your money your own? Are you timed when you go to work? Have you fallen out with friends? Can you still contact your family?”
She adds, “Coercive control means he’s controlling every part of her life. And then it’s so difficult to hear, because they might have come in thinking, he’s not that bad.”
Someone may have endured coercive control for decades but the courts can only consider evidence since its criminalisation in 2019, notes Gayson.
It can take months for gardaí to collect statements, and years for a case to reach trial, if it goes forward. Adapt Kerry inform women on what the process entails and can accompany survivors through this journey.
Many who consider reporting coercive control are already familiar with the civil system, where family law cases are heard. This runs parallel to the criminal courts.
“This is not that, it’s a completely different system,” says Gayson. “There’s a quick answer and quick turnaround for a lot of legal systems. It’s not for coercive control.”
It is a “tough process”, says Gayson.
“For some women,” says Fox, “by the time they turn their mind to coercive control, it is, ‘I’m done with this. I have no more to give, I just want to be done with him’. Then there’s some that that are like, ‘I want to hold him accountable for his actions’.”
In some respects, the Domestic Violence Act doesn’t go far enough, says Susan Leahy, a law professor at the University of Limerick who specialises in domestic abuse legislation.
Once a charge for coercive control reaches trial, it is often prosecuted with serious charges like assault, false imprisonment, sexual assault or rape.
These charges are pinned to specific, often physical, incidents. But victims usually experience abuse over a sustained period.
“It’s wonderful to have this offence of coercive control but I’d like to see this jurisdiction exploring an actual offence of domestic abuse,” says Leahy. “I wonder if having that might make prosecutions of this area, if not more straightforward, more representative of victims’ experiences.”
“It’s an important message for the State to send,” says Leahy. “Sometimes I look at that [multiple charges] and wonder does that capture, accurately, what domestic abuse is, that pattern?”
Additionally, she says, Ireland would benefit from a legal definition of domestic abuse.
“A lot of people, when they think of domestic abuse, they probably still think of the black eye, the cuts and bruises,” says Leahy. “It’s a very hard thing about coercive control, it might be hard to spot, particularly in the early stages.”
She adds, “We have to ask ourselves, do we genuinely know enough about it that we could spot it at an early stage in someone’s relationship?”
“We talk a lot about teaching our young people about consent and sexual violence,” says Leahy. “Sometimes I wonder, do we do enough to talk to them about this kind of behaviour and protecting themselves from it? Domestic abuse in younger relationships traditionally has been overlooked or maybe not seen.”
The ease of installing phone trackers, monitoring texts, emails and air tags to track movement makes this critical, notes Leahy.
‘The most dangerous place for a woman to be’
In the courts, coercive control is considered alongside convictions with heavier penalties.
“By the time you’re charging coercive control, you have incredibly serious charges you’re facing the penalty for,” says a senior solicitor in Kerry. “You would hope that a court would give consecutive sentences for multiple charges. That’s often the logic between bringing multiple charges of, for example, false imprisonment and assault.”
Other recent changes in domestic abuse legislation have had strong impact on prosecutions, said the solicitor.
In 2023, these included increasing the maximum penalty from five to ten years imprisonment for assault causing harm and the criminalisation of non-fatal strangulation, which arises regularly in domestic abuse cases.
Additionally, the 2018 act obliges judges to consider an assault in a domestic setting as an aggravating factor.
“It’s a fear that somebody feels in their own home, which is meant to be a safe space for them,” says the senior solicitor. “It’s the most dangerous place for a woman to be in this country, her own home.”
But the cramped Tralee courthouse means complainant and accused are typically in close physical proximity during trials, forced to navigate the building’s narrow entry and wait together in its hall for courtroom doors to open each day.
“Often times, we’re managing them not meeting the accused in the same space,” said the solicitor. “It’s the practicalities of limiting secondary victimisation as much as you can.”
If you have been affected by issues in this article, you can call Adapt Kerry’s 24-hour helpline 066 712 9100 or email support@kerryrefuge.com or visit kerryrefuge.com
Or call Women’s Aid National freephone 1800 341 900 , email helpline@womensaid.ie or visit womensaid.ie
Or call Men’s Aid on 01 554 3811, email hello@mensaid.ie or visit mensaid.ie