A JUDGE SAID he had “huge concerns” as he denied bail to a man accused of grabbing his partner by the neck during an attack and threatening to kill her in front of her children.

The man, in his mid-30s, appeared before Judge Dermot Dempsey at Dublin District Court today.

He faces two counts of breaking a protection order by calling the woman “a bastard, cunt and tramp”, putting her in fear, and attacking and threatening her life at their home on yesterday.

A local garda opposed bail and voiced “serious concerns”, telling Judge Dempsey that the woman was hospitalised after the man allegedly “grabbed” her neck, boxed her in the chin and threatened to kill her.

The incident happened in the presence of her children, who had to be temporarily taken into care as their mother received medical attention.

She was not at the hearing, and the court heard that further “serious allegations” had led to an ongoing investigation.

Judge Dempsey noted that gardaí had huge concerns over “risk” in the family home, particularly for the woman’s safety. The court heard the accused had been known to abuse substances.

Defence solicitor Eddie O’Connor said his client’s relatives could give him somewhere to live, and he would obey the conditions.

The accused, who cannot be identified due to the Domestic Violence Act’s reporting restrictions, pleaded for bail and described his partner as “devious”.

He said he had been allowed to stay in the house and that he “took over the kids”, but at that point, the judge warned him to confine himself to the case before the court, not family law issues.

The accused then tried to convince the judge that he could live with a sibling, but gardaí were informed that his relatives “did not want to get involved”.

Cross-examined, the man conceded he had broken the protection order three times in a month and admitted that when gardaí arrived, “I was in bed, I would have been very drunk from the night before”.

However, he said he had not taken anything else and that, if released, he would stay away from the woman’s home and the general area.

Refusing bail, Judge Dempsey accepted the garda’s fears of a serious risk and added that he, too, had “huge concerns”.

He granted legal aid and remanded the man in custody to appear again next week.