A man who sent his former partner a Taliban execution video has received a jail term after a court heard his son had sent him a video of his mother in bed.
The man appeared before a recent sitting of the district court in West Cork, having been found guilty last year of sending the video, as part of a flow of communication which constituted a breach of barring orders.
However, he was brought back before the court as he had been accused of communicating with his child, who he shares with his former partner, in a way which constituted a fresh breach of court orders.
Giving evidence, Garda Emma Corkery said that while most of the exchanges were mundane and everyday, some caused concern. Garda Corkery said the complainant had told gardaí of the alleged breach on September 12 last year, six weeks after the orders had been granted on July 28.
Garda Corkery said the complainant had found messages in Whatsapp on her child’s phone, under a different name to that of her ex-partner, but that the picture associated with the number was one of her former partner with their child.
Of the messages Garda Corkery said: “Messages from the father to the child had been deleted.” The man’s phone was subsequently checked and Garda Corkery referred to the message sent by the child showing the mother in bed.
Garda Corkery said:
The one that was the most concerning was a video of the child going into the mother’s bedroom and videoing the mother with a male in the bed. The child sent that video to the father.
Garda Corkery also said another reply from the child to the deleted original message sent by the father referred to the fact that he weas tired and it was raining, and he did not want to go outside and check the bins for empty bottles.
In another reply, the child said it was very late – “I am really tired now Dad, I am going to go to sleep”. The woman said the man “has an obsession with me being an alcoholic”, claiming the message regarding checking the bin was associated with that perception.
Solicitor for the man, Ray Hennessy, said his client had never requested any video from the child. He said his client did have concerns over the children’s welfare and the messages were mainly those of a loving father.
Mr Hennessy said the man did have mental health issues and had received assistance in overcoming addiction. The man told the judge that he had moved on with his life.
Sentencing
However, Judge James McNulty referred back to the 91 text messages and 83 calls made by the man to the woman at the time he sent her the Taliban footage, as well as subsequent difficulties with access arrangements.
He said the fresh charges before the court were serious breaches, stating that the man had “repeatedly tried to bully and threaten and intimidate [the woman] essentially for the purpose of controlling her”.
The judge said some of the message exchanges were “insidious”. He said the video message sent by the child was “either at the request of the father or to please the father”, adding “it’s disturbing”.
He said the saddest message was the one in which the child asked to go to sleep.
He imposed a 12-month sentence for the offences which came before the court last year, including the sending of the Taliban video, and imposed another 12-month sentence for the most recent breaches, the last eight months suspended, with the sentences to be served consecutively.
The man appealed on his own bond of €100 and with an independent surety of €3,000, one-third in cash, and on conditions pendng the appeal, including no communication with the woman.
