A non-national who repeatedly breached a safety order, including by posting an animated Facebook video with his ex-wife’s distorted voice over it, has had his 11-month jail sentence replaced with a fully suspended term on appeal.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also posted a video containing pictures of the injured party’s family members and her current partner with their heads cropped out.
He has a previous conviction for breaching a safety order by posting another Facebook video of his ex-wife with “abusive” rap music over it.
The man pleaded not guilty in the District Court to two counts of breaching a safety order contrary to section 33(1) of the Domestic Violence Act 2018. He was convicted and sentenced to ten months and eleven months in custody, to run concurrently. He later lodged an appeal against the severity of his sentence.
A garda told the District Court Appeals Court on Friday that he got a report from the injured party that her ex-husband had breached a safety order on April 2 and April 3 last.
The garda said that the first video, posted on April 2, featured the distorted audio of a conversation that the injured party had had with the man.
The garda said that the video was of an animation with the injured party’s voice playing over it in “an altered state and slowed down considerably”.
He said that the voice was distorted but the woman could tell it was her voice which had been recorded.
The complainant said that one day later on April 3, the man posted a short video featuring two of her relatives and her current partner. The witness said that the images were cropped at the neck, so that their heads could not be seen, but the complainant said she was still able to identify the family members and her partner.
The garda said that the videos were posted to the defendant’s public Facebook account where anyone could see it.
Defence counsel for the man, Chloe Geraghty BL, said that the man had his ex-wife blocked on Facebook at the time and the videos would only have come to her attention if someone sent them to her.
Ms Geraghty said that if her client were to go into custody on these offences, he would lose his rented accommodation. She also said that he would have difficulty as a non-national with little English if he went to jail.
She said that when her client becomes upset he turns to alcohol, which is not something he is proud of. Counsel said that the man “extremely regrets” putting his ex-wife through this and there have been no further breaches of safety the order.
The man previously appeared before the court in July of this year, where he successfully had a four month sentence fully suspended for another breach of the safety order. This related to an offence in June 2024, when he posted videos relating to the injured party accompanied by abusive rap lyrics.
The injured party told the court in a victim impact statement that it was a “very painful moment” to discover her ex husband had breached the order on two occasions.
She said: “I feel helpless and extremely scared because of him, I don’t know what to expect going forward”.
Judge Deirdre Browne said that this was a “very difficult matter” and that Ms Geraghty’s submissions about the problems the man would face being in prison were well made.
She said that the man fully breached the safety order within a few weeks of its creation, and then again within a year, to make these posts clearly intended to “maximise distress”.
Judge Browne said however that the injured party may have more of a degree of safety if the man’s substantial sentences were “hanging over his head”.
She said that the woman would have the reassurance that if for any reason the man decides to reembark on his “campaign of harassment”, he would be immediately liable to serve the imprisonment.
The judge decided to fully suspend the man’s sentences of ten and eleven months for the maximum period of 24 months. She ordered that he must go under the supervision of the probation services, comply with all of their orders and engage with them, particularly in relation to victim impact work.