A 56-year-old man was convicted — by his own evidence — of assaulting his daughter by slapping her across the face in the family home.

While the man pleaded not guilty to assaulting his daughter, Judge Marian O’Leary said: “By his own admission he slapped her on the face with his open hand. He admits that 100%. I find him guilty.” The judge convicted and fined him €500 for that assault.

The defendant’s wife testified that her husband threatened to kill their daughter who is in her twenties and that she held up a stool to protect herself. She said her daughter and husband tussled with the stool and that she (the defendant’s wife) was struck on the shoulder by the defendant and that her hand was scraped by him. He denied this assault but Judge O’Leary convicted him of this also and put him on a probation bond on this assault. The defendant’s wife secured a barring order against her husband and they no longer live together.

Defence solicitor, Daithí Ó Donnabháin, said: 

“Quite clearly it is a very unhappy household with a lot of tension.”

The defendant’s wife said she returned home on the evening of June 4 2021 and there were things thrown around in her bedroom and a new television was broken. Her daughter said her dad had probably done it. She said he shouted at her up the stairs, ‘I’m going to f***ing kill her’.

The defendant said: “As I turned back to the cooker she (daughter) raised up a stool in her hand and I said, ‘Give me that’. I wrenched it from her. 

"I thought she was going to hit me. I was always conscious hitting her was not going to get anywhere with the message. This was just a message of me telling her not to be using verbal language to me.

"I don’t know where statements about ‘I’m going to kill her’ came from but I didn’t say them. My daughter used to tell my wife to ‘f*** off’.”

Inspector Seán Leahy said: “You struck her in the face?” He replied: “With my open hand, yes.” The inspector asked: “What gives you the right to do that?” The defendant replied: “This is a long discussion. This is the way my mum and dad dealt with me. But I will take my punishment for that.”