A man whose ex-wife was accidentally injured in a criminal damage attack on her home has avoided going to jail after he paid her €5,500.
Denis McGettigan, 58, became enraged when he found his ex having Sunday dinner with her new partner at her home in Carrownagonagh, Milford on February 7th, 2021.
He head-butted the front window of the house smashing it and causing the glass to fall onto Mrs McGettigan’s leg causing her a deep cut.
He originally offered his ex Kathleen McGettigan just €500 for the damage caused after she had been injured in the attack
But Judge John Aylmer last year refused what he called “a miserly offer” and adjourned the case warning McGettigan he would need to increase his offer.
McGettigan had appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court charged with two counts of criminal damage.
The court was told by Detective Garda Enda Jennings that the accused arrived at the home of Kathleen McGettigan while she was cooking Sunday dinner for her new partner Hugh Flood.
He was in a rage and after punching and smashing the windscreen of his own vehicle, he began to head-butt and kick the door of the house in.
He shouted aggressively at both Mrs McGettigan and Mr Flood and said “That bastard is in my house.”
He then went to Mr Flood’s van and smashed the two headlights on it.
After this he head-butted the front window of the house smashing it and causing the glass to fall onto Mrs McGettigan’s leg causing her a deep cut.
The cost to repair the two headlights was €312 while the window of the house cost €510 to replace.
During interview, McGettigan of Glebe, Kilmacrennan, gave a background to the break-up of his marriage and admitted causing the damage to the property.
He said he did not realise he had cut his ex-wife’s leg, apologised and later signed himself into a psychiatric unit.
The court was told that McGettigan, a builder by profession, does not have any previous convictions.
Kathleen McGettigan, in her victim impact statement, spoke about her injuries claiming her ex had shown no remorse and had never offered an apology.
She said she just wishes that Denis McGettigan would reflect on his ‘barbaric and intimidating’ behaviour on the day stating the fact that he would reduce himself to such barbarity is just sad.
She added that their marriage was over a long time ago and that she has managed to rebuild and heal her life with Hugh Flood.
Mrs McGettigan said she also fears that she is terrified her ex will flip and do something that even he will regret.
In his victim impact state, Mr Flood said he would like to ask McGettigan why he was going out of his way to make their lives a misery and a living hell over the past five years.
He added that he no longer feels safe and that his mental health and wellbeing has suffered as a result.
He said he just wants to be left alone to live in peace with Kathleen but that he still fears another attack by McGettigan or someone he gets to do it.
The court heard that McGettigan has no previous convictions.
He said his difficulties arose out of the break-up of his marriage in 2017 which had a profound effect on him in lots of ways including his mental health.
Before this they had enjoyed a long and successful marriage and had four grown-up children who had all gone on to have successful lives and careers.
But Mr Magee admitted that his client is finding it “extremely difficult” to move on.
He added that he is trying to move on with his life but that emotions were high when he found his ex-wife residing in the house with the other party.
Mr Magee said his instructions form his client were that the issue of the damaged window had been resolved through insurance but that Mr McGettigan was offering a further sum of €500 and asked the court to do what it could for Mr McGettigan.
Responding Judge John Aylmer said these were serious offences noting the maximum sentence for criminal damage is one of ten years in prison.
He referred to the deep cut on Mrs McGettigan’s leg which required treatment saying “It could have been a lot worse and it was by pure chance that it wasn’t.”
He said the the court considered the offer of €500 as a “miserly gesture” reiterating that this was a “serious offence” and one which ordinarily might merit a custodial sentence.
“I’m going to say no more and adjourn the issue to the next session and give the accused time to reflect and put a better foot forward in the hope that he might avoid a custodial sentence,” he said.
He told Mr Magee that the adjournment would give himself (the Judge) time to reflect as well as the accused and that hopefully his instructions to Mr Magee will improve.
This week Mr Magee said his client had increased his offer to his ex-wife with an additional €5,000 and also told the court that he had omitted to mention that McGettigan had called to his wife a week after the incident to apologise.
Passing sentence, Judge Aylmer described the incident as “a fairly violent onslaught” on the home of the accused man’s ex-wife.
He noted McGettigan was already on bail when the offence occurred and also that it was an offence to which Section 40 of the Domestic Violence Act applies.
He placed it in the mid-range of such offences and one which merited a sentence of three years in prison before mitigation.
He placed the attack on Mr Flood’s car at the lower end of the scale bit one which still merited a sentence of 18 months.
In mitigation, Judge Aylmer said McGettigan had no previous convictions, that he had cooperated with the investigation, had apologised to his ex-wife and entered an early plea.
He also noted that he had grave difficulty facing up to the breakdown of his marriage, was suffering significant psychological trauma and was not enduring good health.
Having regard to all these factors he reduced the sentence to one of two years but considering the accused has no previous convictions he deemed it fit to suspend all the sentence for a period of two years.
He also reduced the criminal damage charge on Mr Flood’s car to one of 12 months but because of McGettigan’s health issues, he also suspended that sentence on the same terms.