A Wexford man has been given an 18-month suspended sentence for beating his wife and ordered to hand over his interest in the family home to her.
John Sheridan (70) had pleaded not guilty to four counts of assault occasioning bodily harm and three counts of assault causing harm to Ann Sheridan (64) on dates between January 1, 1994 and June 30, 2002.
Sheridan of St. Aidan’s Villas, Enniscorthy, was convicted by a jury following a trial at The Central Criminal Court earlier this year.
The couple married in 1990 after Mrs Sheridan had answered an ad listed as a “quiet man” in Ireland’s Own magazine. The court heard he was 36 and she was 30, and the marriage was difficult from the outset. She would be berated if her cooking was not to his liking.
Garda Aine O’Connell told the court a year after the marriage, he took voluntary redundancy and did “nixers”.
The verbal abuse started as soon as she got married, and the physical violence started a year after the birth of their son in 1993, where he would hit her with an open hand.
On one occasion, when she was pregnant, he threw a bedroom locker at her, which she narrowly avoided but said she didn’t feel the baby move until 4 am the next morning. The assaults would happen twice a week, and she would be left bruised and marked under her clothing, the court heard.
After the birth of their daughter in 1997, the physical abuse progressed from hits with an open hand to using a closed fist. After she had healed, he’d give her what he referred to as “a renewal’.
He would refer to her as “a leppy” as she was epileptic, and he said that this was the cause of her bruising. She said she was breastfeeding her younger child, and he’d “rabbit punch” her. The court heard this is a country term for a punch with a closed fist.
On another occasion, she was in a room with her two children when he came towards her, and when she tried to run away, he kicked her in the coccyx with his steel-capped boot. He also kicked her in a part of her leg where she had no feeling, as she’d previously had a skin graft. She did not feel any pain at the time in that part of her leg, but her son told her she was bleeding.
Her husband wouldn’t allow her to go to the doctor that evening, the court heard. She was allowed to go to the doctor the next day, and Sheridan told her to say she slipped on a toy. She said the abuse was happening twice weekly at that time.
He left the family in 2000 and has had no contact with his children since. When interviewed by Gardai, Sheridan admitted hitting his wife but denied kicking her. The court heard he had no previous convictions.
In her victim impact statement, the woman said, “I was married for 10 years, being abused from the first day.”
She said she suffered pain in her coccyx after being kicked by his steel-capped boot and had pain in her leg. She said she stood sideways at the cooker because she was always being pushed into it.
“I can’t deal with silence in company because it means abuse, so I keep talking”, she said.
“To this day, the emotional pain never goes away…I’m only a shell of the woman I once knew,” she added.
“I never had freedom in my marriage…obedience was always demanded of me in all areas of my life – as they say, ‘Love, honour, obey’.”
Under cross-examination by Colman Cody SC, defending, Gda O’ Connell agreed that Sheridan was now in a new relationship and has no contact with his children.
She also agreed he was co-operative with gardai and indicated that he had assaulted her on three or four occasions but said it was with an open hand and denied kicking her.
In mitigation, Mr Cody said: “The how and why is very much in dispute.” His client admitted he was guilty of assaulting her “but not to the degree alleged.”
Mr Cody said his client “is not the person as depicted by his wife.” At all times, “he was a good provider” and said he wasn’t coping.
He said Sheridan has lost his family he had with his wife and “has already been punished”.
“He felt he was a man who couldn’t deal with the situation at the time,” Mr Cody added.
A summarised psychiatrist’s report conducted in July 2000 said that after the events he said he contemplated committing suicide and is “suffering from an adjustment disorder,” the court heard.
He felt “he had not been treated fairly by the family courts,” said Mr Cody.
“Is it in the interest of justice to send this elderly man to prison?” Mr Cody asked the court.
“This is a case where there are no winners,” he added.
Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford said the pattern of abuse would now be considered as coercive control but that he was guilty of assaults on his then-wife.
She noted he was a different man now and is in a new relationship for the past 20 years with his new partner, saying he is supportive.
The judge said a report from his consultant psychiatrist stated he had made two attempts at taking his life in 2000 and noted he had an adjustment disorder.
The judge noted that there was no plea and no concrete admission of remorse. The judge also noted there was no medical evidence available to the court. However, she said there was no useful purpose in sending him to prison. She ordered that Sheridan hand over his interest in the family home to her and said it was on that basis she was giving him a suspended sentence.
She set a headline sentence of three years for the assaults but reduced this to 18 months, suspending it in its entirety.
She further ordered that he stay away from her and his children and must not approach them unless invited to.
The case will be mentioned again on October 7 next to follow up on the status on the transfer of the house.
Reporting by Niamh O’Donoghue
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