Husband put pillow against wife's face and said 'there will be no bruises, you bitch', Cork court hears

A woman feared for her life when her husband put a pillow against her face with the words: “There will be no bruises, you bitch.”

Judge Helen Boyle recalled this evidence in a sentencing hearing at Cork Circuit Criminal Court as she dealt with two assaults carried out by the middle-aged man on his then wife back in May, 2022.

Because of family law issues surrounding the case, the parties are not identified.

Judge Boyle imposed a five-month sentence for this assault, which she suspended.

And she imposed a concurrent four months suspended for another assault where he stood down on his wife’s foot causing her pain.

The judge noted that the accused was intoxicated during the assaults.

The injured party said her then husband told her that nobody would believe her over him.

In her victim impact statement, she said it was further wounding to be assaulted by the person she had loved and thought she would be spending the rest of her life with.

“He never showed any remorse and just referred to it as the pillow incident,” the injured party said.

Judge Boyle said that these assaults occurred in the context of a marriage breakdown.