A 59-year-old man who went to the house of another man and used a hatchet to attack his back door appeared before Trim Circuit Court charged with a threat to kill on a date in April last year. He was also charged with trespass with intent to commit an arrestable offence. The incident took place at a location several miles North of Navan. Because the case contained elements of family law proceedings certain aspects of the case cannot be reported and certain parties cannot be identified.
Detective Garda Paul Cullen told the court that Gardai had been called to an incident at a house. They were told that the defendant had come to the house and had taken a hatchet and “smashed the back door”. It was alleged that the defendant had threatened “Don’t sleep in that house tonight or I’ll come back and I’ll burn you out of it”. The victim said he was in fear of his life, the detective said.
The victim had made a statement saying that he had been struck in the chest with the blunt side of the hatchet. It was also alleged that the defendant told him that he would “f*****g kill him” and to “get to f*** out of Meath”. The defendant had been arrested and during interview he said he couldn’t recall some matters because of his mental health difficulties. The detective said there was no victim impact statement available because the victim did not wish to make one. The defendant had one previous conviction for careless driving.
In reply to defending barrister Carl Hanahoe the detective said the complainant had withdrawn his complaint but nonetheless the prosecution had gone ahead. Mr Hanahoe asked the court not to impose a custodial sentence. The lawyer said that the victim in the case had withdrawn his complaint against his client. It was agreed by the detective that the defendant had gone to the victim’s house to “confront him” about a certain matter. He had not brought the hatchet with him but found one on the victim’s property.
He said the incident had taken place in the context of an acrimonious background. He said there was a “substantial context” to the incident but that did not excuse or condone what his client had done but it had very considerably reduced the culpability in the case. His client was someone with a good work history and of good character. He was not working at the moment because of the condition of his mental health both before and after the incident.
Judge John Martin said he had listened to the facts of the case very carefully. As Mr Hanahoe had pointed out, this was very serious offending. It was offending that took place in a particular context. It was offending that had taken place, as Mr Hanahoe had put it, in the context of “a flame having being ignited”. However, the defendant knew he could not take the law into his own hands. “You cannot take the law into your own ands – that is the law of the jungle and it doesn’t apply”, the judge said. The appropriate sentence might be two and a half years mitigated to 11 months.
However, he deferred sentence to 26 th June next. In the meantime defendant has to pay a fine of €2,500. He also has to attend AA meetings, engage in anger management and keep the peace between now and the adjourned date.
