A MOTHER of two appeared before Judge Treasa Kelly at Bantry District Court in relation to six offences committed at her home.
Margaret Collins, solicitor, said her client, who cannot be named because it was largely a domestic incident, was pleading guilty to all charges.
However, both the solicitor and a social worker told Judge Kelly that there had been a history of domestic violence, and the woman had lived in a toxic environment without support.
The accused pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting Gda Martin Hanley and a charge of obstructing Gda Hanley at her home on October 9th last.
The third charge was for assaulting her partner, and another for criminally damaging a plate by throwing it at him. The remaining two were child neglect charges.
Court presenter Sgt Trish O’Sullivan said the woman’s partner called 999 and gardaí arrived at their family home shortly after 8pm.
He reported that his wife was smashing up the house while her two children were present. He alleged that she had ‘gone mad’ and was throwing plates at him down the stairs.
When gardaí called, the woman had one of her children in her arms while she was being verbally aggressive towards her husband.
When the gardaí asked her to come down the stairs, she allegedly told them to ‘f*** off’ and continued her aggressive behaviour.
Meanwhile, the other child is alleged to have tried to leave through a window.
When gardaí tried to take the child that was in her arms from her, she lashed out and struck the garda in the face, said the sergeant.
‘Gardaí were concerned about the safety of the children and in the course of the incident she was very argumentative and aggressive with them,’ she added.
In mitigation, the accused’s solicitor said the couple were not getting along. ‘They had been arguing throughout the day,’ according to Ms Collins.
The solicitor explained that matters did escalate when her client left the house earlier with the pram, in a bid to calm herself, but she bought a bottle of wine and that left her intoxicated.
The solicitor explained that there is a social care team now involved and that matters have settled since the husband left the house.
The solicitor said there was a history of domestic violence and that her client was quite overwhelmed because she had no family or relatives nearby to help her.
After this event, she said Tusla got involved.
There was a member from that agency in court and she told Judge Kelly she had witnessed ‘the extremely toxic environment’ and the fact that the woman was without support.
The health official also spoke of witnessing the toxic way in which the husband spoke to his wife while she was present.
Judge Kelly requested the production of a probation officer’s report before finalising matters and adjourned the case to the July 10th sitting of Bantry District Court.
