The question of potential ‘double jeopardy’ was raised in court recently for a man charged with breaching a safety order and making a threat to kill or cause serious harm.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before Judge John Cheatle at an in-camera (closed to public) sitting of Waterford District Court in April, via video link from Cork Prison, where he is serving a sentence for an unrelated matter.
He was brought before the court to face charges of breaching a safety order, contrary to Section 33(1) of the Domestic Violence Act, 2018, and making a threat to kill or cause serious harm, contrary to Section 5 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997.
Acting for the defendant, solicitor Ken Cunningham said that his client had previously pleaded guilty to the charge of breaching a safety order, and received a 12 month sentence. He added that the accused was then charged under Section 5 of the Non-Fatal Offences Act, saying that this would raise the question of potential ‘double jeopardy’ as his client was already serving out a sentence for one of the charges.
Sergeant Michael Hickey said that directions from the State’s Solicitor indicated that the Section 5 charge should proceed, while Mr Cunningham asked if the matter could be taken into consideration.
Sgt Hickey told the court that the Section 5 offence occurred in March 2025, while the breach of the safety order occurred in January 2026.
The Sergeant said that in March 2025, Gardaí received a report from a woman in Waterford who said she had received a phone call from the accused, where he made a threat to ‘butcher’ her and harm her daughters.
She contacted Gardaí as she feared that the accused would carry out the threats. Mr Cunningham indicated that his client would be pleading guilty to this offence.
Sergeant Michael Hickey also told the court that in January 2026, Gardaí were called to a house in Waterford due to an alleged breach of a safety order. A woman, identified as the partner of the accused, called Gardaí as she said that he shouted at her and refused to leave when she asked him to. He was subsequently arrested by Gardaí.
Mr Cunningham said that the accused received a lengthy prison sentence at Waterford Circuit Criminal Court earlier this year, and that his primary concern was that his client already pleaded guilty to the ‘factual matrix’ of the Section 33 offence, and is already serving out a 12 month prison sentence for it.
Although Judge Cheatle said that the accused was facing different charges, Mr Cunningham reiterated that they have the same ‘factual matrix’.
Judge Cheatle handed the accused a 12 month prison sentence suspended for 18 months.
The suspended sentence will run consecutively to the sentence that he received at Waterford Circuit Criminal Court earlier this year.
Funded by the Court Reporting Scheme
Robyn Power
