A Wicklow man who subjected his former partner to a terrifying 19-hour ordeal after breaking into her home has been jailed for seven years.
A sitting of Wicklow Circuit Criminal Court also heard Alan McEvoy subjected the woman to a prolonged campaign of harassment by following, pestering and texting her on numerous occasions over a three-month period as well as impersonating a garda in calls to her employer.
The court heard that during the assault McEvoy threatened his victim with a syringe which he would fill with acid in the knowledge that she had a phobia about needles, while also claiming the IRA were after her and her mother in Poland would be killed.
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Judge Martina Baxter said McEvoy’s actions represented “a gross invasion of bodily integrity and freedom of movement” and constituted “persistent, disturbing and controlling behaviour” which left his victim physically and psychologically traumatised.
McEvoy (52) of Carrigacurra, Valleymount, Co Wicklow pleaded guilty to burglary of his former partner’s home in Tulfarris Village outside Blessington, Co Wicklow on May 21-22, 2016 and assaulting her on the same occasion.
He also pleaded guilty to a charge of harassing the woman, a 39-year-old dental nurse, at various locations between April 27, 2016 and July 27, 2016.
McEvoy and his former partner, a Polish national and mother of one, had been in a three-year relationship which ended in January 2015.
The court heard that CCTV footage captured the accused following her as she left for work from her home on the morning of May 21, 2016 to a filling station where he shouted at her that it was her “last chance.”
The judge said McEvoy’s victim had made it clear that their relationship was over but he would not take “no” for an answer.
The woman reported the incident to gardaí in Tallaght before returning home that evening and was settling down to watch Netflix when McEvoy “suddenly appeared out of nowhere” after laying in wait in her house after entering it illegally.
The court heard he was wearing latex gloves and dressed entirely in black clothing including a pair of her leggings but shoeless.
The woman said he grabbed and assaulted her including punching her in the head as she lay on the floor, while she vomited a number of times.
He also bound her hands behind her back with cable ties and tied her legs together and only untied them after she agreed to resume their relationship.
Judge Baxter said it was clear that it was a planned and premeditated incident and the woman only gave up resistance in order to bring it to a stop.
“The indignity he put her through was grossly humiliating,” the judge observed.
Throughout the ordeal, McEvoy warned his victim that she was under threat from the IRA and she needed him to protect her as well as her ex-husband and their child.
He also threatened her that there was a “crew” who were in Poland who would kill her mother.
McEvoy also took her mobile phone to send texts to end a potential new relationship with another man and instructed the woman to have a shower to wash away DNA.
The court heard that McEvoy had also got his mother to drop something to the house the following morning before he finally left his ex-partner’s home at 2pm.
The judge noted that he had also tried to set out new rules about their relationship including that he would be with her at all times if she was not at work.
Among the injuries suffered by his victim was a swollen jaw, a bruised shoulder and scratches and cuts to her hands and wrists.
As evidence of his “duplicity and deceit,” Judge Baxter observed McEvoy also went to a garda station that evening to claim his ex-partner had fallen and hurt her face but that he believed she would fabricate complaints about him.
When arrested he was also wearing a pair of her underwear under his jeans.
Letters addressed to his victim and photos of pages from her diary were found during a search of his home which the judge said implied he had been in her house without her knowledge.
He also made false allegations against her in calls posing as a Garda and a member of the Dental Council to her various employers.
“He seemed to think he was invincible in denigrating her,” Judge Baxter remarked.
She said his ex-partner was “a very brave woman” who had provided a “powerful, articulate and emotional” victim impact statement in which she described how she was devastated that someone could be “so evil and vindictive” when she had done nothing.
The victim described McEvoy as “a ghost lurking in the shadows.”
The woman also recalled how her young son was no longer invited to playdates and birthday parties because McEvoy had, in the judge’s words, “controlled the narrative” about her.
The victim recounted how she was “not living my life, just surviving.”
Judge Baxter said probation and psychological reports showed McEvoy had tried to minimise and rationalise his behaviour while claiming numerous wrong doings by his victim and showing no remorse.
She noted he was also deemed a high-risk of re-offending in relation to domestic violence.
Sentencing McEvoy to nine years in prison for the burglary, the judge suspended the final two years on a number of conditions.
They include that he remains under the supervision of the Probation Service for two years and resides at an agreed address on release from prison.
He is also prohibited from making any contact with his former partner or her family or attempting to monitor or conduct surveillance of her.
McEvoy, who has eight previous convictions, also has to disclose any new intimate relationship to a probation officer and undergo any recommended therapeutic programme as well as cooperate with any safeguarding measures.
He was sentenced to three years each for the convictions for assault and harassment with all sentences to run concurrently which will be backdated to when he was placed in custody in March 2022.
The court heard that McEvoy had been hospitalised last week after suffering a heart attack.
He had previously failed to appear on the date he was listed to go on trial because of another health problem but turned up on his following due court appearance.
Judge Baxter observed that he seemed to develop health issues around proceedings in court.
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