Limerick businessman convicted of putting estranged wife in fear at home they share

A BUSINESSMAN whose eyes were bulging as he shouted and roared at his estranged wife during a row has been told his behaviour was not acceptable.

The middle-aged man, who can’t be named for legal reasons, was convicted of breaching a Safety Order at the house he and his estranged wife share in County Limerick.

During an in-camera (closed to the public) hearing, Judge Valerie Corcoran was told the defendant and his wife are currently in the middle of divorce proceedings and while they have the same address, they are living separately within the property.

In her evidence, the woman said on a date last March, she was on a laptop in her bedroom when her husband entered and began shouting and roaring at her as she had refused to sign a document relating to an insurance policy.

“I told him to leave and to get out but he just kept roaring and shouting,” she said, adding that the man’s eyes were bulging as he lost his temper.

“I was actually scared,” she told Inspector Barry Manton, adding that he had also spat at her.

Later, she described how her husband had grabbed her laptop and lifted the corner of the bed with one hand during the altercation which was witnessed by one of their adult sons.

Barrister Robert Moloney said his client denied putting his estranged wife in fear on the night, describing what happened as an “undesirable set of circumstances”.

In his evidence, the defendant admitted he had entered the bedroom but told Judge Corcoran it was his wife who had started the shouting and roaring.

“She kept screaming at me to get out,” he said.

The man denied spitting at his wife but accepted he had lifted up the bed during what he said was a “heated argument”.

When asked by Insp Manton, the man said he was aware a Safety Order was in place at the time but that he did not fully understand the implications.

"Do you accept she had every right to be afraid by your actions?” asked the inspector to which the defendant replied: “I can’t see how she could have been scared. It was a heated exchange, it wasn’t violent.”

At the conclusion of the case, Judge Corcoran said she accepted “without a shadow of a doubt” the evidence of the complainant and she proceeded to record a conviction.

The judge commented that she found the evidence of one of the couple’s sons, who was called as a defence witness, to be “terrifying” as he did not seem to think his father’s behaviour on the night was “out of line” or unusual. She said such behaviour “should not be normalised” and that she regarded what happened to be "absolutely outrageous" and not acceptable.

In the circumstances she imposed a six month prison sentence, which she suspended for two years.