A man charged with breaching a safety order and assaulting a woman in his home has been granted bail.
The man, who is in his 30s, and cannot be named in order to protect the identity of the alleged victim in the case, was brought before Falcarragh District Court after being arrested this week.
Sergeant Jim Collins gave evidence of the arrest, charge and caution of the man and informed the court that the State was objecting to bail.
The accused man was charged that he breached a safety order issued in June 2024 by placing the applicant in fear, a charge contrary to section 33 (1) of the Domestic Violence Act, 2018.
He was also charged with assaulting the woman and causing her harm on the same date. The charge is contrary to section 3 (1) and 3 (2) of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997 as amended by section 20 of the Criminal Justice Act (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2023.
It was alleged that the man assaulted the woman by grabbing her throat, pushing her into a kitchen, throwing her against a table and giving her a high-impact blow to the face in the form of a full-force slap.
Sergeant Collins said there were concerns that the man would interfere with witnesses.
The court heard that the man was in breach of bail conditions by being in contact with the alleged injured party and that he was convicted last year for a breach of a court order.
Sergeant Collins said the man has not signed on at a Garda station, as required by his bail conditions, since October.
“He is a man who doesn’t abide by bail conditions,” Sergeant Collins said.
Ms Alison Parke, solicitor for the accused man, said her client was unaware that the bail conditions applied to these charges and Sergeant Collins replied that it was for each person to be responsible and be aware of their own conditions.
Ms Parke said that her client would say that he was “in a relationship with the injured party, rightly or wrongly” and would “deny that this assault happened”.
The woman took to the witness box and said that the matter was “causing alarm” and added: “It is now at the point where I fear for my life and my safety.”
The woman said that she was “in shock and traumatised”.
Under questioning from Ms Parke, the woman denied that she attended the man’s home every day and that the man waited outside a public house for her on the night in question.
Judge Ciaran Liddy said that he was not there, at this stage, to decide on the man’s guilt or innocence.
“Whether he is guilty or not is not my role today,” Judge Liddy said.
He said that there seemed to be confusion over the man’s duties to honour the terms of bail imposed and that the primary concern is whether or not he will interfere with the woman going forward.
Judge Liddy said the accused man came before the court an innocent man and is entitled to that presumption.
Bail was granted on condition that the man abide by the safety order, have no contact or interfere with the alleged injured party other than when arranging access to their child. He must sign on three times a week at a Garda Station and provide a phone number to be contactable on 24-7.
Judge Liddy said the man should be “under clear instructions that he is required to comply fully”.