Garda Ian Gillen falsely imprisoned, assaulted and threatened to kill his then partner
Garda Ian Gillen of Carysfort Avenue, Blackrock, falsely imprisoned, assaulted
and threatened to kill his then partner
A Garda has been jailed for 20 months for attacking and threatening to kill his partner in their south county Dublin home.
Garda Ian Gillen, a former international bowler, told his partner, ‘Jen, I’m going to rip your head off’, prompting her to quickly make an audio recording of the rest of the attack on her mobile phone, should she not survive
At one point, Gillen mockingly suggested his partner should ring Blackrock Garda Station, insinuating that nobody would help her if she did, because he was a serving garda.
You’re going to die tonight,’ he told his partner Jennifer Clinton three times, before saying: ‘I’m the biggest white psychopath you’ll ever meet.’
The attack came after the couple spent the evening socialising at Blackrock Tennis and Bowling Club, where they were both members. Ms Clinton left early because Gillen was getting more and more aggressive.
Later, after he came home, she fled the family home. Ms Clinton said she had to work out how she would escape from her home, where she had previously felt safe.
‘I thought of my children and grandchildren and made a break for it,’ she said. ‘I still have recurring nightmares where I did not get out.’
Gillen, of Carysfort Avenue, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, was before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday, where he pleaded guilty to threatening to kill or cause serious harm to Jennifer Clinton on December 23, 2021, at Trafalgar Lane, Monkstown, and to assaulting Ms Clinton on the same date.
Judge Martin Nolan imposed a prison sentence of four years, with the final 28 months suspended on strict conditions due to the substantial mitigation and the tragedy in Gillen’s life.
Ms Clinton told gardaí that when Gillen arrived home, he called her downstairs to sit on a pouffe by the fireside, where he stood over her in an intimidating manner, rebuking her and calling her names.
He punched her with a closed fist three times on top of her head. In an effort to get away, she said she needed to go to the toilet, but he refused to let her go. She eventually managed to go, locked the bathroom door behind her, and cleared the windowsill so she’d have a route out.
She eventually made her way out of the house. She had managed to record 40 minutes of the threats. An attempt was made to play this in court, but it was not possible due to technical difficulties. A transcript of the recording was handed to the judge instead.
Ms Clinton described Gillen’s conduct as pure anger. She said that any time she tried to get up, he kept telling her to sit back down. He also said she was going to die that night, and she believed her life was in serious danger.
After she escaped, Gillen was arrested for coercive control, was interviewed, and the recording was played to him. He was embarrassed and said it wasn’t in him to hit her, but indicated it was another person in his body.
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