A man who threatened to slit the throat of People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy’s wife has been spared jail after apologising and citing a psychotic episode.
Joseph Cloherty (42), of no fixed address, had earlier indicated he would contest the charge, requiring Murphy to come to court and testify.
However, Dublin District Court heard the prosecution was not proceeding and instead applying to withdraw the case.
Judge John Hughes noted this followed a letter being sent by Cloherty to the Dublin South-West TD, apologising to him and his wife, People Before Profit councillor Jessica Spear, and explaining the incident happened when he was going through a psychotic episode.
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The apology was acceptable to the TD, who was not required to give evidence and left the court as Judge Hughes struck out the proceedings.
Defence solicitor Emer O’Sullivan furnished a medical report about her client, who pleaded guilty to unrelated public order offences, resulting in a one-month suspended sentence.
Cloherty has nine prior convictions, mainly for public order and motoring offences.
He faced a charge under section 5 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.
Cloherty was accused of having made a threat on May 23rd, 2023, to Mr Murphy, intending him to believe it would be carried out that he would kill or cause serious harm to Ms Spear.
[ Man accused of threatening TD Paul Murphy that he would ‘slit’ partner’s throatOpens in new window ]
Earlier, the court heard that Cloherty had been hospitalised involuntarily.
Outlining the evidence previously, Garda Elaine Markham said the TD had been giving out leaflets about a Bill related to abortion when the accused allegedly walked up to him and threatened to slit his wife’s throat.
“That’s a lie,” Cloherty told the court after it heard a summary of the evidence. “They were talking about killing babies,” he said.
On conviction, the threat could have led to a fine and a 12-month sentence.
