A Donegal man who delivered an engagement ring at the home of his ex-partner while a safety order was in place has been given a suspended prison sentence.
The man, who is aged in his 30s, cannot be named for legal reasons to protect the identity of the woman, appeared before Judge Éiteáin Cunningham at Letterkenny District Court.
The man faced eight separate charges of breaching a safety order, an offence contrary to Section 33 of the Domestic Violence Act 2018. A guilty plea was tendered in the case of each.
The charges relate to offences on various dates between December 2022, when the accused emailed the woman, to June 2023. A safety order was granted by the Court in December 2022.
The woman told Gardai that she received a number of messages through electronic means, including by email and Revolut.
On a date in June, the man attempted to call her from his phone, while the following day he attempted to engage in conversation. The woman reported how this made her feel ‘uneasy and intimidated’.
On another occasion, the woman returned home to find a white box containing an engagement ring and a note left at the back door of her house.
Asked about this by Sergeant Jim Collins in Court, the man said: “I owed her a few pound and I thought she could sell it to make the few pound.”
Mr Donough Cleary, solicitor for the accused, described the return of the engagement ring and the note as a ‘mark of pathos’.
The court heard that the man has 15 previous convictions, mainly for minor road traffic offences and public order offences.
Mr Cleary, said the pair were in a lengthy relationship and said his client never made a threat. Judge Cunningham told the solicitor it was clear that the woman felt threatened by the contact.
Mr Cleary said the man is ‘actively seeking assistance’. “The mental health service is strained to breaking, but he takes whatever help there is when he gets it.”
At a sitting of the court the previous week, the man was refused bail.
Then, a Garda told the court that he believed that the accused man felt that all charges ‘are a complete joke’ and that his anger towards the woman is ‘increasing week on week’.
The woman herself told the Court that she was terrified and feels ‘mentally tortured’.
She said: “I can’t get any peace. I am locking myself in the house.”
The accused, his solicitor told the court, now has ‘insight’ into his behaviour. “He is very cognisant of the consequences of what happened,” he said.
Judge Cunningham said the court was of a view that these were ‘serious’ matters.
“I am not convinced that he fully appreciates the significance, but I want to give him every opportunity,” Judge Cunningham said, adding that she didn’t want the matter ‘dragging out’.
On one of the charges, Judge Cunningham convicted the man and sentenced him to two months in prison, suspending the sentence for a period of 12 months.
Judge Cunningham directed that the accused enter into a section 99 bond and on condition that he engage with the probation services. The man was granted bail on the other charges.
He was ordered to stay out of the village the victim resides in, he is to have no contact whatsoever with the victim, either directly or indirectly and including via social media. The man is to be contactable by Gardai via telephone at all times and was instructed to abide by the Domestic Violence order imposed by the Court.
“It is quite clear that there is an order and there has to be strict adherence to that order,” Judge Cunningham said.
Judge Cunningham directed the preparation of a probation and welfare report and made a short adjournment for the purpose of ‘monitoring’. The matter was listed again for the July 3 sitting of Letterkenny District Court.