Mick Clifford: Family bond endures for former garda determined to finally achieve justice
Margaret Loftus's father sat beside her in the witness box, just as he had stood at her side 13 years ago when she told her husband that their marriage was over.
The latter occasion was on October 31, 2012, some eight hours after her husband Trevor Bolger had assaulted her in front of their children.
Both Margaret and her husband were members of An Garda Síochána at that time.
On Wednesday, when called to give her victim impact statement, she left her place in the public gallery, her father Michael at her side.
He held her hand as they walked to the witness box where both sat down.
The garda detective who investigated the assault, Rioghnach O'Sullivan, settled them in, made sure they were comfortable, and asked whether they would like a glass of water.
Earlier, the detective had told the court that the assault had occurred in Margaret's childhood home in Co Mayo, to where the couple had visited from Dublin for a family occasion.
The following morning Margaret had woken her father and asked him to stand beside her when she told Bolger that their marriage was over.
Michael Loftus did as his daughter requested, and on that morning she left one life in a sump of despair to embark on a new one. It was to take 12 before the wheel of justice would turn in her favour.
In the witness box, Margaret Loftus put on a pair of glasses, moved towards the microphone, and began talking in a clear voice, determined that she would get through this testimony, for, as she was to relate, herself, her children, and any other victim of domestic violence.
Sitting in the areas reserved for defendants, Trevor Bolger looked into the middle distance with faraway eyes, like a man who was being forced to live through a past he would rather forget.
In the witness box, Margaret Loftus put on a pair of glasses, moved towards the microphone, and began talking in a clear voice, determined that she would get through this testimony, for, as she was to relate, herself, her children, and any other victim of domestic violence. Picture: Collins Courts
On April 28 last, he pleaded guilty to assault, under Section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offenses Against the Person Act. That was on the day that his trial was due to begin.
At two interviews with investigating gardaí he had denied assaulting his wife of the time. Then, a few weeks before he was due to go on trial, he admitted it in a plea deal. Two other charges, of coercive control and threatening to kill were dropped, entered as nolle prosequi.
Wednesday was his victim's day. Margaret Loftus told the court that during the assault her children were her main concern.
'I would have taken any kind of battering once they were safe. The fear I felt during the assault was heightened by the knowledge that my children were present,' she said.
'This assault on this fateful night was so violent and terrifying it ended our marriage,' she said.
She went on to thank those who had helped her along the way particularly her husband Hugh 'who found me shattered and broken'. Then she finished with a clarion call to anybody who is, or was, going through what she had experienced.
'Trevor Bolger you did your level best to break me and my children,' she said. 'You made me suffer every single day since I left you after this assault but I want you to know you haven't broken me.
As a victim of domestic violence I would like to urge all other victims to come forward no matter how much someone like Trevor Bolger tries to abuse you. There is always a better life waiting if you can find your voice.
Here and there, while she related her experience, her voice threatened to break. But she held it together, drawing strength from the presence of her father beside her.
There was a silence of respect in court 22 as she got up from the chair, helped her father to his feet, walked past the defendant and back to the heart of the family that had come to support her.
Judge Martina Baxter heard pleas of mitigation and made some queries as to what rehabilitation Trevor Bolger had undergone.
Taking everything into account she said she was going to refer the case to the Probation Service for a report, and she would sit again for sentencing on October 31.
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