A man accused of breaching a protection order by allegedly making threatening phone calls to his ex-partner has been refused bail following a hearing at Tallaght District Court.
The man, who is aged in his 30s and cannot be named for legal reasons, is charged with putting the woman in fear on June 23rd last in breach of an existing protection order.
The court heard earlier this week that the woman, who shares a young child with the accused, received four phone calls from a private number within three minutes that evening. She answered the fourth call and said she immediately recognised her ex-partner’s voice.
“He said, ‘You’ll be sorry for everything done’,” she told the court. “He told me to get our child out of the house, that his cousins were coming to smash it up – and that he was going to dance my head into the ground,” she added.
The woman said she was home alone with their baby and contacted gardaí immediately after the call. The woman also alleged that the man often contacted her using private numbers and had access to two phones, though he claimed to own only one.
The accused denied the allegations under oath. “I’ve never once called, threatened, or even shouted at her in any way. If she stands there and lies, I could be in prison on false allegations,” he told the court.
Defence solicitor, Padraig O’Donovan, argued the case was “entirely ex-parte”, with no independent evidence linking his client to the calls. He said the accused had voluntarily presented himself at a garda station and was in a local casino at the time of the calls.
The woman said the threats were part of an ongoing pattern. “He has put me and my son through terror. I didn’t want any of this – I wanted a family. But he robbed me, lied, and turned everything back in my face.”
Judge Patricia McNamara said she found the woman’s evidence more credible, citing her familiarity with the man’s voice and the detail of the alleged threats.
Bail was refused, and the man was remanded in custody to appear via video link from Cloverhill Prison on June 27.