A man who subjected his wife to years of physical abuse and coercive control has been jailed for a total of four years for what a judge described as serious acts of violence against an intimate partner.
Monaghan Circuit Court had heard how the wife of Martin Ward (27) once ran to a Garda station with her pyjamas saturated in her own blood after he used a weapon to attack her.
Mr Ward, with an address at The Elms, Lough na Glack, Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, had pleaded guilty to the coercive control of his wife Chantelle between 2019 and 2022.
He also pleaded guilty to an attempted robbery.
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The court heard how Mr Ward carried out a litany of attacks on his wife, including once leaving her with a black eye; on another occasion slapping her in the face as she slept; and kicking her in the stomach when she was pregnant with one of their children.
He had also once threatened to stab her with a fork.
The court also heard how the defendant would take his wife’s mobile phone off her to isolate her from her family and friends, and take all her allowances and money to spend on alcohol for himself.
Barrister Frank Martin, for the prosecution, outlined to the court how these offences occurred between the years 2019 and 2022.
In earlier evidence to the court, Sgt Anthony Flynn, now retired, revealed how in the early hours of the morning on May 31st, 2021, Ms Ward arrived at Carrickmacross Garda station in a very distressed state.
He said Ms Ward had a laceration to her head after she said she had been attacked with a weapon by her husband, and had run to the station barefoot.
The court heard Ms Ward was in her pyjamas, which were “saturated” in blood.
“She was barely able to talk she was so distressed,” Sgt Flynn told the court.
The court heard that after Mr Ward was subsequently arrested by gardaí, he told them he had downed 10 or 11 cans of Guinness on that night and could not remember assaulting his wife.
The court also heard Ms Ward had later left her husband.
In a victim impact statement read out on behalf of Ms Ward, she said she still suffered bad dreams over the abuse by her husband, even though it had been over two years since she last saw him.
“I never want to see Martin Ward again for the rest of my life,” her statement said. “Leaving him was the best decision I ever made.”
In sentencing Mr Ward at Monaghan Circuit Court on Thursday,, Judge John Aylmer said he placed his offending at the upper end of the scale when it came to coercive control.
The judge said that as this offence merited a maximum sentence of five years, he would consider imposing a sentence of four years, before mitigation.
He said this included Ward’s guilty plea, his lack of previous convictions for assault, a letter he had written detailing his remorse and the fact he was engaging positively with counselling services in prison.
Taking all that into account, Judge Aylmer issued a sentence of three years for the coercive control.
In relation to an offence of attempted robbery, Judge Aylmer imposed a sentence of two years and three months, to run consecutive to his other sentence.
The judge said he would suspend the final 15 months of this sentence on condition that Mr Ward abstain from drink and drugs and continue to engage with probation services.
“So you are getting a sentence in total of four years,” he told the defendant.
