Mayo man attacked ex-girlfriend and threatened to kill her young children
The defendant pleaded guilty at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court.
A man threatened to put his ex-partner’s young children “in a white box".
Patrick Moran, aged 36, of Oak Mill, Balla, pleaded guilty at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court to a charge of making threats to kill or cause serious harm.
The court was told that on October 5, 2022, the defendant's former partner returned to her home in Castlebar after collecting her four-year-old and three-year-old children from creche.
She closed her front door but left it unlocked and when she returned to her hallway was shocked to find a hooded man who had his face partially covered with a bandana.
The victim shouted at the man to get out but he refused and as he pulled the bandana down she recognised his eyes and knew it was Moran. She walked toward him and as she did so he did the same before grabbing her by the throat and pushing her against the hob. The victim said her three-year-old daughter was nearby when this happened.
The young mother later told Gardaí that Moran said “I told you I would be back” and threatened to put her kids “in a white box”. He took house keys, car keys and her clock card for work as he left the house. She screamed for help and the defendant told her to shut up. She struggled with him in an effort to get her keys back and cut her finger before he threw them back at her.
After the matter was reported to Gardaí, Moran arranged to meet with officers and made certain admissions. He told them he was wearing a face covering as he entered the house because he had a cough.
In a statement that was read out in court, the victim said she would never forget the “sinister look” Moran gave her daughter as he grabbed the victim's throat.
The injured party said she made her children sleep with her for months after the incident.
“I felt like I failed to protect my children on that day,” she told the court.
She said she will forever be looking over her shoulder and that her son still talks about the “man in the mask” who threatened to put him and his sister in a box.
Moran has two previous convictions.
The court heard he was in a relatively brief relationship with the victim and could not understand why it ended. The relationship ended two years before the incident.
“Mr Moran did not know why the relationship ended and this played on his mind for two years,” said his barrister, Brendan McDonagh.
He said his client, who works in construction, is “deeply ashamed” of his actions.
Mr McDonagh said Moran told Gardaí that the threats he made were “something incredibly stupid that he blurted out". He has been in a new relationship for the past few years.
Judge Eoin Garavan adjourned the case until October 18, 2024, for further mitigation, an additional probation report and to allow the accused to complete further counselling.
