A District Court judge has hit back at women’s support groups which criticised him over a warning he issued last week about “a wasting of Garda time and court resources by females who make claims of alleged assault in domestic incidents, but then withdraw their complaints when the cases come to court”.
He felt he was “perfectly correct” in expressing his frustration that a lot of Garda time was taken up with the various complaints which were later withdrawn.
Judge Seán Mac Bride said at Virginia District Court in Co Cavan he now intended to take the matter further by binding all accused people to the peace for two years in the future, rather than striking out these cases.
“Technically they would be in limbo-land for a criminal conviction, but it would have the effect that if there was a repetition of the violence, you would have the power to certify a breach of that bond, and impose a 30-day sentence,” he said.
Judge MacBride referred to “the negative reaction from some domestic groups, such as the Tearmann group, which represents women affected by domestic violence”.