A Dublin man who subjected his wife to daily beatings and rapes was jailed for 11 years by Mr Justice Carney.
The 37-year-old man pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to a number of sample charges out of a total of 81 of rape, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, aggravated sexual assault and oral rape.
The charges included one of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on the victim's son by a previous relationship.
Mr Justice Carney said the case involved a history of the most appalling and gratuitous violence perpetrated on the victim.
Garda Annelisa Hannigan told Mr Michael Durack SC, prosecuting, that the defendant met the 29-year-old woman in 1991 when they were both living in hostels. They married two years later.
She said the first incidence of abuse happened in 1992 outside a hospital, when he severely beat his partner. Repeated beatings and rapes then occurred daily.
The victim suffered black eyes and was unable to leave the house. She was in constant fear of being beaten by her husband and had told gardai that sex throughout the marriage was non-consensual.
Garda Hannigan said the defendant would force her to engage in sexual acts, and she knew if she did not she would be beaten. The rapes included anal, vaginal and oral sex.
Once he also threw his son against a press in a bedroom, leaving him with a scar on his eye. He would punch his wife in front of the children and hit her on the back with a poker.
She said he bit her on the chest and head and placed his hands around her neck as if to strangle her. He also tied her by her arms and legs to the bed and raped her. Garda Hannigan said the victim had attempted to get away from her husband several times.
She moved and had barring orders made against him but he found her. The victim told Mr Durack her life was wrecked and on one occasion she had kept her children in the house for three months as she was afraid to let them out.
"He just kept stalking me and stalking me. He wouldn't leave me alone," she said. She said she never wanted to lay eyes on him again.
Mr Erwan Mill-Arden SC, defending, told the court his client wanted to say something to his wife. The defendant apologised to her and her son and said he was not asking for forgiveness. The victim replied: "You've ruined my life."
The defendant's sister told Mr Mill-Arden that she had been deeply concerned about her brother, who had revealed that he had been sexually abused by a neighbour when he was a child.
Mr Mill-Arden told Mr Justice Carney that his client was a chronic alcoholic. Sentencing the man to 11 years' imprisonment, the judge said there were matters in the book of evidence that would have led to an exponentially greater sentence. However, he had to deal with what was before him.