Man who threatened to murder ex-wife and assaulted her with belt is jailed for five years
A MAN who threatened to murder his ex-wife and assaulted her by placing a belt around her neck and lifting her from a chair has been jailed for five years.
Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard that Michael Quirke of Manor Hills, Lisnagar, Rathcormac, Co Cork, had placed a GPS tracking device on the car of his ex-wife Mary in order to monitor her movements.
Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin was also told that the 53-yearold contacted Ms Quirke by phone while on bail and warned her that he would still be the same man when he got out of prison.
It was claimed that on December 9, 2020, he phoned Ms Quirke and said: “The guards will not be around you when you need them most. When I get out of jail, be it two years, I will be the same. You won’t have that Garda protection you have now.”
Detective Garda David Barry said that Quirke called to Fermoy Garda station in Co Cork on January 31, 2019, and told gardaí he had attempted to murder Ms Quirke.
He told gardaí he had assaulted Ms Quirke on two occasions. On the first occasion in 2018 he placed a belt around her neck and lifted her from the chair with it. In the second instance in 2019, he held her against a wall and told her he would hang her, Det-Gda Barry said.
Quirke pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Ms Quirke, two counts of threatening to kill her and one count of harassment.
Det-Gda Barry said Quirke presented to gardaí in January 2019 and told them that he had attempted to murder Ms Quirke.
“He said, ‘I did threaten her that I had a rope in the shed and I would hang her. If my hands came out (of his pockets) I would have killed her,” Det-Gda Barry said,
The court heard that Mr Quirke had a dependence on alcohol and psychiatric issues.
In a victim impact statement Mary Quirke said that she was hopeful that her husband would receive all necessary medical assistance.
“I am very concerned that if he is released from custody, similar and probably more serious incidents will occur,” she said.
“For this reason I am afraid for my own safety of my three children. And my three children share my fears and are very concerned as to the possibility of losing a parent or both parents or worse still a sibling over a matter which has got out of control.”
She said that she believed her husband needed to be excluded from the townland of Lisnagar as he was previously under the terms of his bail conditions.
Barrister Siobhan Lankford SC, said her client was deeply remorseful and ashamed of his actions. She said that Quirke had voluntarily admitted himself to psychiatric hospitals on a number of occasions.
Judge Ó Donnabháin sentenced Quirke to six years in jail, suspending the final year of the sentence. He ordered that Quirke have no contact, direct or indirect, with the injured party or her family at any stage in the future.