*Photo by John Mangan
A man set fire to his partner’s shoes, whipped her on the neck with a belt, spat at her and then tried to set her hair on fire in a row over his Xbox usage, a court has heard.
At the Family Law Court, Judge Alec Gabbett granted the woman a one year Safety Order against the man after also being told that he texted ‘Oops’ after sending an intimate video of the woman into a group chat.
In evidence, the woman said that “he did it to be evil towards me”.
She said two of the people on the group chat saw the video before her now ex-partner deleted the video.
Judge Gabbett said that circulating intimate material in such a way is now a criminal offence.
The woman said that the two were living together and on the week before Christmas Day last, she said that her boyfriend was playing a game on his Xbox console “when we were supposed to be watching a movie together”.
She said that he was on the Xbox game a long time and got very angry when she said that they should be watching the movie and “he threatened that he would beat me black and blue”.
The woman told the court that the man set fire to her shoes, whipped her on the back of her neck with a belt, “spat at me once or twice and threw a bottle of vodka towards me and then tried to set my hair on fire with a can and lighter”.
She said: “He set my shoes on fire and he whipped me.”
The woman told Judge Gabbett: “I thought he was going to kill me because of the look on his face.”
Solicitor Colum Doherty for the man said that those allegations are disputed by his client.
The woman handed into Judge Gabbett a folder of copies and screenshots of texts and communications between the two.
In one read out by Judge Gabbett the man texted “where is my X-box controller, you fat f**k?”
After reading the text messages from the man, Judge Gabbett said: “I am getting the gist of it.”
The woman said that in another incident as they were driving to Galway to a concert she got “a busted lip” after “he put his elbow to me”.
The woman said that during their relationship “I was so in love”. The woman said that she was “foolish” when dropping previous domestic violence proceedings against the man.
She said: “We moved back in again and he started abusing me again.”
Judge Gabbett remarked that from the evidence when the man “is nice he is nice, but when he is bad, he is very bad”.
The man was in court contesting the woman’s Safety Order application but after she gave her evidence, Mr Doherty said that after consulting with his client he would consent to the granting of a one year Safety Order and not go into cross-examination of the woman on her direct evidence given.
Judge Gabbett warned the man that he faces arrest by the Gardai if he so much as texts the woman and will be brought before the court.
Judge Gabbett told the woman if she requires a longer period than one year, she can come back into court and apply for a longer term Safety Order.
