Ex-garda gets six years for subjecting wife and stepsons to 'horror after horror' for 12 years
Them Of Between Paddy Causing Five And Mark Harm 2007 And Assaulting Picture: Assault September Cummins Doyle Of Counts Harm Her Sons Doyle Admitted (pictured) Dates On August Counts Two Of To Meav Causing Two 2019
A former garda who put his ex-wife and stepsons through “horror after horror” over a 12-year period has been jailed for six years.
Mark Doyle, aged 38, with a previous address at Corbally Paddocks, Newbridge, Co Kildare, admitted five counts of assault causing harm to Meav Doyle and two counts of assaulting two of her sons causing them harm on dates between September 2007 and August 2019.
Mark Doyle, who had been stationed at Ronanstown, Blanchardstown and Cabra, was suspended by An Garda Síochána and later resigned from the force before pleading guilty on the day of his scheduled trial last October.
He was a member of the Irish Defence Forces between 2002 and 2009 and a garda between 2009 and 2023.
Reading her victim impact statement in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court this week, Meav McLoughlin-Doyle said her ex-husband took herself and her children through “horror after horror” during the 12 years they were together.
She described a relationship marked by control, violence, coercion and abuse during which she and her children lived in “constant terror and fear”.
“He was a respected member of the community but a monster in our home. He used his position to shake off any suspicion,” she said.
Sentencing Doyle on Friday, Judge Martin Nolan said Doyle engaged in “reprehensible” behaviour which involved a “pattern of violence” against his partner and her two sons.
“For reasons known only to Mr Doyle, he couldn't control his temper and blamed his wife for his own bad behaviour,” the judge said.
The judge said it was “noteworthy” that Doyle was a former member of the Defence Forces and a member of An Garda Siochana. He noted the offending took place in front of children at times.
“It was an oppressive house to live in,” the judge said. “Meav Doyle bears the scars of all of this.” He handed down a global sentence of six years, backdated from yesterday when Doyle went into custody.