The Paul Moody case was a textbook example of coercive control, according to the leading global authority on crime.
Rofessor Evan Stark, a sociologist and forensic social worker, is credited with helping design laws that explicitly recognize and criminalize persistent controlling behavior and emotional abuse.
He has been directly involved in implementing the criminalization of coercive control in England, Wales, Scotland and several US states.
Speaking with the Irish independentProf Stark said the case of former garda Paul Moody “illustrates everything we know about what compulsive control is” and could end up as a milestone raising public awareness of what compulsive control means.
Moody, a former Garda, was jailed this week for three years and three months for compulsive control. His campaign of harassment against a terminally ill woman included hitting, kicking, punching and choking her.
“The case seems to cover everything we know about coercive control. The isolation, physical violence and intimidation, the manipulation’
He sent more than 30,000 abusive and threatening messages to the woman. He told her he hoped she would die of pain. Moody took pictures of the woman naked without her knowledge or consent, and threatened to share them online.
The woman, who suffers from cancer, had her medicines stolen by Moody. She told the court she couldn’t afford to replace it.
“The case seems to contain everything we know about coercive control. The isolation, the physical violence and intimidation, the manipulation,” said Prof. Stark.
“The case illustrates the fact that coercive control is also an ongoing offense that continues over a long period of time. And that also educates people. And it also shows that compulsive control doesn’t live up to the traditional idea of domestic violence, something that happens behind closed doors. This victim was assaulted in a car, assaulted on the street, on a beach and in a hospital. It happened in a social space.
“The other thing that illustrates this case very nicely is how difficult coercive control is for the police. Because here we have examples of hundreds of attacks, crimes of all kinds, and the police had no idea it was going on. All these violations took place against this person, and it shows that police surveillance requires highly specialized police work.”
Moody was eventually caught after he complained about one of the woman’s relatives and turned in his phone as part of the investigation.
Detectives from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation then realized the crimes and approached the woman, who was his former partner.
Prof Stark said coercive control was often conducted against a network of people — not just the victim, but often her family and friends as well.
Forced checks were criminalized in Ireland in 2018. Prof. dr. Stark said the public should view coercive control as an attack on a woman’s freedom, and the law should encourage the public to think differently about how society views women.
“Compulsory control is a freedom crime. It deprives people of their freedom, equality and dignity. These are all the things this woman lost. We have to ask ourselves whether we value those rights. And then we have to ask, do we value those rights in the same way for a woman with a body as we do for a person with a male body?
“These violations violate a woman’s most basic physical dignity. Her peace of mind, her privacy, her freedom. These were things that women were expected to tolerate if they were married, or if they had a boyfriend who performed them on them,” said Prof. Stark. Ireland is also new.”
Prof Stark said a growing number of coercive control convictions in Ireland were to be welcomed.
However, he said he felt Irish law would be better if attacks such as assault and stalking were treated as part of a coercive control pattern rather than as separate offences.
Moody was eventually caught after he complained about one of the woman’s relatives and turned in his phone as part of the investigation
“Sexual assault and stalking, both should be part of the coercive offense in my opinion.
“Because while they are already crimes in Ireland, when they take place in the context of compulsive control, they are completely different from assault when a stranger is involved and stalking when a stranger is involved,” Prof Stark said.
“Sexual violence in the context of compulsive control is repeated. It routinely covers a broad spectrum of crime, including rape.
“And stalking in the context of compulsive control, almost always, starts when the relationship is still together. And when stalking is present in compulsive control, it is much more likely to lead to murder.”
Professor Stark said compulsive control was a completely custom crime, using other crimes as part of a pattern to terrorize someone, and so those crimes had to be seen in that context.