Garda who tried to choke ex-partner jailed for three months

An ex-garda has been given a three-month jail sentence for brutally attacking and trying to choke his former partner when he was “off his face” on cocaine.

The man in his 30s pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to trespass and assault causing harm to the terrified woman, who thought he would kill her.

He has left An Garda Síochána since the incidents in 2018.

Following a request by counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions, Judge John Hughes ordered that the former garda cannot be identified because the victim’s children were witnesses.

He was prosecuted following an investigation by the Garda Ombudsman (Gsoc).

The woman’s victim impact statement outlined the profound effect his domestic violence had on her and her children. She also believed he had been dealt with differently because he was a garda.

She described how she and her family remain in fear, and the delay in getting the case to court also impacted her emotional and mental health.

In evidence, Gabriel Christle, the Gsoc designated officer in the case, said the woman and her children came home and found the accused asleep in the sitting room.

One of the children tried to pick up a music player, but the defendant attempted to “wrestle her son to get the iPod.”

The mother intervened, but he “pushed her against a door with his elbow to her face and his hand on her neck”.

He still wanted the music player, and the victim recalled he “looked off his face” on drugs.

The judge heard she was choked by her ex-partner and thought, “he was going to kill her”.

The court was told her children ran into the room and started striking him with their toy Power Rangers swords.

She suffered “massive” bruising to her face and had two broken fingers. Judge Hughes examined photos of the injuries.

The second incident happened nine months later when he turned up at her house following an exchange of text messages. He banged on the door crying and “screaming through the letterbox”. He then threw objects, including car keys, at her house.

Pleading for leniency, his barrister said his client had become addicted to codeine and cocaine.

Judge Hughes said the fact that the man was a member of An Garda Síochána at the time was an aggravating factor. He imposed a six-month sentence but suspended the final three months on condition that he keeps the peace and does not re-offend for two years.

He ordered him to pay €1,000 to his former partner and have no contact with her unless he has a court order.