A MAN who denied allegations of having threatened to kill his wife and sister in law has been denied bail by the High Court while awaiting trial on charges of assault, criminal damage, breaching a barring order and handling stolen goods.
"I haven't the slightest doubt that if bail was granted, witnesses would be intimidated and threatened," Mr Justice Smyth told Mr Patrick Donoghue, unemployed, of Lefanu Drive, Ballyfermot, Dublin.
Garda Seamus Boyle, of Ronanstown Garda station, told of tapes made of hundreds of phone calls from Mr Donoghue to a women's refuge centre, threatening his wife and staff. He said Mr Donoghue had telephoned his sister in law threatening to burn her house and car. Her car had been burned out days later.
Mr Donoghue had a long history of violence and his wife had taken out a number of barring orders. He said Mr Donoghue's wife and sister in law had made statements at Harcourt Street Children's Hospital claiming Mr Donoghue had assaulted them. Another time, Mr Donoghue had taken his wife in the car at night to graveyards.
"This is the first time in a number of years she has had the courage to go ahead with these charges," Garda Boyle said. "I have never seen a witness so terrified."
Garda Sgt Denis Smyth said Mr Donoghue's wife indicated to him that her husband had threatened to kill her. "It is my beliefs that Mr Donoghue is capable of carrying out that threat," he said.
Mr Donoghue said that if granted bail he would not go near witnesses and undertook not to go near his wife or sister in law. "I have never threatened to kill my wife. I am not violent and I am incapable of carrying out such a threat," he told the court.
He denied hitting his wife and sister in law or having told his sister in law he would take her to the mountains and kill her.