'Stressed' farmer poked wife with sweeping brush after asking her to clear off table

The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, came before a sitting last Thursday following the April 4 incident, which followed a verbal altercation between the injured party and the accused.

After asking her to clear the table, he poked his wife with a sweeping brush, thus breaching a safety order imposed by the Court. His wife said, in her statement to Gardaí, that the items he asked her to clear from the table were all his.

Following the incident, the man left the room and had another verbal altercation with his son.

The man’s defence solicitor agreed with Judge David Waters that his client had “not covered himself in glory”. The Court heard that the man has previously taken two lengthy anger-management courses and received counselling, but while his solicitor insisted his client continues to benefit from these courses, Judge Waters said “they don’t appear to have made any difference”.

The solicitor said the man is a farmer and has identified that he gets stressed out at calving season. He said the man will take steps to ensure he doesn’t go over tipping point again.

He said his client took ownership of what he did, that he consented to the safety order to begin with and understands why his wife needs to have it in place. This incident was “an exception” since he took steps to address his anger issues, he added.

The man and his wife continue to live under the one roof, despite being separated, he explained.

Judge Waters noted that the defendant has a previous assault conviction and this, along with the breach of a court order, were causing him some difficulty in determining what action to take.

He chose not to finalise the case and remanded the man on continuing bail to October. If the man commits further offences before then, Judge Waters said he will consider handing down a custodial sentence.