A 50-year old man has been jailed for a year, with another six months suspended, for the coercive control of his wife over a period of more than a year and a half.
The man, who cannot be identified by order of the court, pleaded guilty to a single charge, relating to January 2019 to September 2020.
However, details of a catalogue of incidents over approximately 20 years were relayed at a sentencing hearing at the Central Criminal Court, Cork.
The dates on the indictment related to when coercive control became an offence under law in this country, and the date the woman told the man she was leaving him.
The court heard that the man would blame his wife if she had her period when he wanted to have sex with her, while he also sulked when he was required to go to family events which did not appeal to him.
Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford was told that the victim in the case often wished she was dead during the campaign of abuse towards her.
The man used an abusive term towards her on numerous occasions, and subjected the woman to what she described as daily "torture."
His now former wife opted to make a victim impact statement to the court last month.
She said that her life was a constant cycle of being degraded.
Her husband was always mocking her appearance and weight, and he undermined and criticised her every effort in life.
She said that he once referred to their home and said he would "burn you in it" before she could live in it.
She recalled that on one occasion when she refused to have sex with him, he said that she had "energy for everything else" and that he was "well down the list."
The man also had an affair and sent a text to his then wife instead of to the woman he was seeing.
When she read the text, she was on holiday with her in-laws.
The woman said that she spent a lot of time crying in her bedroom as the foul language towards her never stopped.
"It is so difficult to put into words the full extent and affect of coercive control - but the two words I would use are relentless and tortuous.
"The constant critical and demeaning running commentary in everything I did - the name calling never stopped.
"He controlled who I could be friends with and tried to turn me against my own family."
She said that her husband tried to isolate her and control who she did or did not see.
"Everyone was walking on eggshells (around him). If he was not happy, then nobody could be happy.
"Even if he was 200 miles away, he would still have the ability to instill fear in me. I would give into his demands just to have peace in the house. No matter what I did, it was never good enough.
"I was exhausted from trying to please.
"I was drip fed moments of happiness but as time went on, they became less and less frequent.
"He would crush these moments and let me know that my happiness was under his control.
"I was stuck in a vicious pattern of control. I started to realise that all his actions were premeditated. I became a shell of myself."
The woman said that she had considered ending her life by suicide.
"I thought about taking my own life. I thought I would be better off dead, that I would be better off up in heaven. I just could not take it anymore.
"My head felt like it would explode. My chest was so heavy, my stomach was in knots, I was retching. I wanted it to just stop.
"I could not continue to live this way. I knew I had to leave the relationship for my children.
"I did not bring children into this world to be living the way we were living.
"It was my children that gave me the strength and courage to end the relationship.
"My confidence was completely eroded - I kept overthinking everything I said or did. I felt so stupid and useless from the constant degradation and humiliation."
'No excuse'
The man, who has four previous convictions and who previously spent time in prison arising from a fatal incident, admitted that he knowingly and persistently engaged in behaviour that was controlling and coercive with the intention of having a serious effect on his wife from 1 January, 2019, to September, 2020.
The man said that individuals in his family were known for having short tempers.
His defence barrister Brendan Grehan SC, indicated that his client had self referred to programme called Men Overcoming Violent Emotions (MOVE) in a bid to address his anger issues.
Mr Grehan said that there was not "any exemption for (the family) temper under the law."
"There is no excuse. He cannot escape his personal responsibility by blaming it on family genetics.
"He wants to apologise to her for his behaviour. He wishes her well. Furthermore, he hopes that they can both be good parents (to their children)."
Sentencing in the case was adjourned until now to allow Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford to consider case law and a number of other legal issues.
Ms Justice Lankford said the maximum sentence the charge carried was five years in jail.
She said she considered the offending in this case to be in the mid-range, and she set a headline sentence of two-and-a-half-years in jail.
She reduced that sentence by eight months for the defendant's plea of guilty, and by a further four months for other mitigating factors.
Ms Justice Lankford suspended the final six months of the sentence, on condition that the man engages with the probation service when he is released, and to take steps to deal with his substance abuse.
Ms Justice Lankford also made it a condition of the suspension of the sentence that the man would have to inform the probation service if he enters an intimate relationship with a new partner in the future, and that the probation service shall inform any new partner of his conviction for coercive control.
