A man who restricted his wife’s food and limited the heating in their home has been given a suspended sentence for coercive control and assault.
The Central Circuit Criminal Court heard the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to one count of assault causing harm on or about January 27th, 2020, at their Dublin home.
He also pleaded guilty to one count of coercive control.
Det Sgt Stephen McDonald told Shane Costelloe SC, prosecuting, that a jury was empanelled earlier this year and a trial began.
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After the opening speeches, the defence team handed over a “tranche” of material that had been downloaded and translated for the defence team.
This material included voice notes and messages. The man agreed to enter pleas to the two charges and this was accepted by the victim.
The court heard the couple had an arranged marriage in 2019. The woman gave up her high-level job and moved to Ireland where her husband had lived most of his life. The woman felt isolated from her extended family and did not have any friends in Ireland.
The man travelled for work and would be away for long periods of time. The woman would stay with his brother and mother while he was away.
Their marriage became fraught, as well as the relationship with her in-laws. A security system was in place in the home with cameras placed both externally and internally. These cameras fed back to an app on the man’s phone.
The court heard the charge of coercive control was a result of the woman being left isolated in the house and being told that she should remain inside. She felt that her husband was micromanaging her daily activities.
Her daily food intake was restricted along with the heating in the house.
She began to feel physically and mentally unwell and had no financial independence.
On or about January 27th, 2020, there was a verbal altercation between the then-couple, which resulted in the man grabbing the woman by the arm and twisting it behind her back, resulting in pain, swelling and bruising.
In a statement, the woman told the court: “I lived life in colour.
“I had a lot of friends. I was a very happy person.
“When I was 27, I got married to this person. I can’t even say his name.”
“No one would ever recognise me as the girl I was in (her native country), he destroyed her, and I miss myself,” she said. “I will never forgive him.”
Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo accepted the assault was not premeditated.
He said comparing this case to other similar cases, that thiswas “on the lower part of the spectrum”.
He imposed a sentence of six months for the assault and a concurrent term of 12 months for the coercive control, before he suspended the 12-month term in full on strict conditions for two years.
