Man found guilty of raping and threatening to kill his wife

A man has been convicted of raping and threatening to kill his wife as their marriage broke down in 2014.

It is thought to be only the third successful prosecution of rape within a marriage since marital rape was made illegal in 1990.

The jury are still deliberating on charges that he head-butted his wife and threatened to cause her serious harm in Dublin city centre when they met to discuss custody of their son.

The eleven men and one woman returned the latest guilty verdicts this afternoon after nine hours deliberation.

They convicted the man of raping his wife in their home in May, 2014 as their son slept downstairs.

Jurors also returned a guilty verdict on a charge that the man threatened to kill his wife when he phoned her at her parent’s house the day after the rape. The woman broke down crying as the verdicts came in.

On Wednesday, jurors found the accused guilty of two counts of threatening to cause his wife serious harm including by threatening to cut her face open with a cleaver immediately before the rape.

The 42-year-old accused has already pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife with a hammer in August 2014.

He has pleaded not guilty to rape, assault causing harm and five counts of threats to kill or cause serious harm between May 24th and August 1st, 2014. The jury had previously been instructed to return a not guilty verdict on a fifth threat charge.