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A man threatened his ex-partner and told him to leave the country or that his entire family would be shot in an attempt to prevent him from testifying in an assault case against him, a court has heard.
Noel McCabe (25) is currently serving a six and a half year sentence for various crimes, including assaulting his partner and violent disorder.
Sergeant Adrian Mulligan told the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Monday that after McCabe was charged with two counts of assaulting his partner in March and April 2018, he went on to threaten her.
McCabe, of Sandyhill Gardens, Sillogue Road, Ballymun, Dublin, pleaded guilty to obstructing the course of justice by intimidating a witness in June 2018. He will be sentenced early next year.
The court heard that the victim had been in a relationship with McCabe for 18 months, which it described in a victim impact statement as a “nightmare.”
The relationship ended after McCabe was accused of assaulting her, but then she began receiving phone calls from him and other unknown numbers, Sgt. Mulligan said.
In a phone call, a man who claimed he was not McCabe told him that he had a week to leave the country or that his entire family would be shot, including his daughter.
In another call, McCabe asked her to drop the assault charges against her and she refused. Later she received another call saying that she had 24 hours to leave the country or her family would “understand.”
A Garda investigation identified a phone number used to make calls to the victim and details of the recharges. One of those recharges was carried out in a Londis store on Parkgate Street, next to the Criminal Justice Courts, the day that McCabe was to appear in court.
Later, McCabe was seen in CCTV footage buying a mobile top-up at the Londis store on that date.
He initially denied having made threats against Gardaí and was “angry” at the idea of a threat being made against a child, the court heard.
McCabe has 34 prior convictions that include assault, possession of ammunition, production of an article and traffic violations.
In a statement delivered to the court, McCabe’s ex-partner said the threats made her seriously consider continuing the case against him. She said that at the time she feared for herself and her family, and was afraid of losing sight of her daughter.
Defense attorney John Berry BL said his client had a problem with alcohol and drugs at the time of his offense, but is now drug free in custody. He tried to postpone the matter for a few months to allow for the preparation of several reports.
Judge Melanie Greally postponed the sentence until February 1 of next year.
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