‘Justice system isn’t protecting women’

Women’s Aid chief blasts light sentence in abuse case

WOMEN’S Aid has described as ‘completely inadequate’ an 18-month suspended sentence given to a convicted murderer for viciously assaulting his wife.

Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard that Marius Rucinskas repeatedly struck his wife Renata, leaving her with a broken leg and arm, and that he had begun to suffocate her by forcing her face into a mattress.

He also tore clumps of hair from her head and pulled off her eyelash extensions at their home on Main Street in Castletownbere.

Rucinskas, who moved to Ireland in 2016, some 12 months after completing a 15-year prison term imposed for murder in Lithuania, had spent a year remanded in custody on the charges until his release in February of this year.

Judge Sean Ó Donnabháin said he had taken this time in custody into account when handing down the sentence, and suspended the prison term on condition that Rucinskas did not live in or around Castletownbere.

He also said it was a volatile situation that occurred following the consumption of a lot of alcohol

‘It was a violent assault that went on for a period of time causing great distress to people in the home,’ the judge said.

Sarah Benson, chief executive of Women’s Aid, told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘Even accounting for 12 months’ time served, this short, suspended sentence is completely inadequate in light of the severe physical injuries, attempt to smother, and the psychological distress suffered by Renata Rucinskeine.’

She added that the outcome of the case echoed the findings of the Women’s Aid report ‘Unheard and Uncounted’, which accused the criminal justice system of failing to protect the victims or survivors of crimes committed by current or former partners.

On Newstalk, Caithríona O’Neill, a social worker at Cork’s Cuanlee refuge, said the sentence was ‘absolutely appalling’.

‘In reading the reports, the judge spoke about how he had been drinking and he also spoke about how he works in a difficult work environment and how he stayed away from the village and town since this assault,’ she said.

‘Whenever I read pieces like this,

I find it very frustrating because it is like there is a reasoning and rationale for this behaviour.’

Rucinskas had pleaded guilty to the charge of assault causing harm to his wife Renata Rucinskeine on January 1, 2020. He subsequently lived with a friend in Cork city.

Garda Laura O’Sullivan told the court that the 42-year-old had been drinking from lunchtime on the date of the offence.

His wife returned home from work at about 5pm. That night they had some friends over for the New Year festivities. They drank beer and Jameson whiskey.

After their friends left, a dispute arose between Mr Rucinskas and his wife. He claimed that his wife did not fully appreciate gifts he had purchased her for Christmas. Garda O’Sullivan said that over the next two to three hours Ruckinskas assaulted his wife several times. The court heard that Mr Rucinskas assaulted his wife by kicking and punching her in the kitchen. He then followed her upstairs where he hit her head off a table and pulled her onto a bed.

Garda O’Sullivan said Rucinskas forced his wife’s face down on to a bed and pushed it into the mattress, to the point that she was in danger of suffocation.

The court heard the defendant had a number of previous convictions from Lithuania, including a 15-year sentence imposed in 2000 for premeditated murder.

‘Forced her face into the mattress’