*A three year safety order had been granted in April 2022.
A MAN who breached a safety order obtained by his ex wife when addressing post to the couple’s dog at the woman’s home after their break-up has escaped a jail term.
This follows Judge Alec Gabbett at the District Court in Clare imposing a suspended two month prison term and a fine of €200 on the man for breaching the Safety Order.
Judge Gabbett said that the man signed off one letter to the dog ‘Woof, Woof, Woof’.
The letter was one of a number of communications sent in the post to the dog in May and June 2022 that also included a copy of the Irish Constitution and a bag of dog food that prompted Gardaí to arrest the man for the breach of the Safety Order in July 2022 after the woman lodged a complaint.
After imposing sentence, the man asked Judge Gabbett “do I have a criminal record?” and Judge Gabbett told him, “You do have a criminal record as of today”.
The man, representing himself, said that he would appeal the penalties to the “High Court or the Supreme Court”.
Judge Gabbett said that he would be appealing to the Circuit Court first.
Judge Gabbett said that he imposed the suspended prison term as “a deterrent” and if there were further breaches, it was open to the court to activate the prison term.
The man told Judge Gabbett “I never intend to see that woman again”.
Judge Gabbett said, “That would be a result in my view”.
Judge Gabbett found the man guilty of the Safety Order breaches at a court hearing last November and adjourned the case for a Probation Report to be carried out on the man, who has no previous convictions.
However, reading a letter from the Probation Services, Judge Gabbett said that the service was unable to complete a report on the man as he became aggressive towards the Probation Officer who terminated their interview meeting last month.
Judge Gabbett said that the Probation Officer pressed the panic button and a Garda came.
In response, the man told Judge Gabbett that it was a fire alarm and not a panic button.
At the end of the contested hearing last November, Judge Gabbett, finding that the communications with the dog were a breach of the Safety Order, commented, “I am not at all satisfied that those letters should have been sent”.
He said, “The constitution and letters to the dog? I just don’t think that they are appropriate”.
The three year Safety Order granted to the woman in April 2022 stipulated that there would be no communication from the man to the woman.
The man told Judge Gabbett that he didn’t believe that he was breaching the Safety Order as the post was addressed to the dog.
Judge Gabbett asked the man that given that the dog couldn’t have read the letter addressed to him and it was his ex-wife that was going to read the letter, would he not have thought sending the letter was intimidatory with the history that was there between the estranged couple.
The man said, “No”. He added, “I really think that this is a female issue. It is a gender issue in my opinion”.
He said that he sent the dog a bag of dog food “and she goes berserk”. He said, “Where is the rationale in that? If I was sending her a knife or something”.
The man said that after Gardai arrested him following the letters addressed to the dog, “I haven’t sent any food to him since”.
He said, “I wasn’t doing it out of malice”.
