Campaigners hope the number of forced control cases brought to court will rise after high-profile convictions help raise awareness of the crime.
In his week, two more men were convicted in separate cases involving compulsive control, bringing the total number of convictions since 2019 to at least 10.
On Tuesday, former garda Paul Moody was sentenced to three years and three months in prison.
The 43-year-old fell, threatened, assaulted, stole and checked on a cancer-stricken woman more than four years after they met online in 2017.
His victim recalled Moody telling her that the only reason he had visited her while she was in the hospital was to “watch you bleed to death”.
On Thursday, Dean Ward, formerly of Ballintlea, Hollyfort, Gorey, Co Wexford, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for raping, assaulting and forcibly controlling a woman during a six-week relationship.
Ward shot Mace in the face, tied her up, strangled her and raped her, threatened her with a hammer and hit her in the face.
He checked her access to friends and family, took over her internet banking, monitored her whereabouts and her cell phone, and removed her contraceptive while she slept.
Forced control, which refers to an intense pattern of controlling, abusive, manipulative or violent, was first criminalized in Ireland in a law passed in 2018.
It made Ireland one of the few countries in the world to have criminalized emotional abuse.
According to An Garda Síochána, there were eight convictions for forced checks between 2019 and 2021.
There have been more than 50 such charges since the law was passed.
Sarah Benson, the director of Women’s Aid, said a lot of work had already been done to train gardaí and watch coercive audit cases make their way through the justice system.
“What we hope we will see now is a snowball effect and an acceleration in the number of cases to come and I believe that is happening,” Ms Benson said.
She said there needed to be a “mindset shift” in the criminal justice system after coercive control was criminalized.
“We are so used to people being prosecuted on the basis of one incident. For example, a sexual assault that occurred at a particular time in a particular set of circumstances.
“Whereas compulsive control is basically what a relationship with domestic violence is, and it is a pattern of behavior over a period of time that in some cases has an incremental but in some cases an acute impact on a victim.
“What we’re looking at is someone campaigning over a period of time, using tactics some of which may not be crimes in their own right, others may be, but all are part of an overall pattern.”
Ms Benson said abusers were initially charged with coercive control in addition to other often physically violent offences.
However, as public understanding of compulsive control has grown, Ms. Benson said her organization is now encountering examples of individuals accused of compulsive control as a
standalone crime.
“We are now starting to see instances of compulsive control that can lead to continued harassment, phone bombing or isolation,” she said.
“I think our public awareness of just how rigorous coercion control can actually be will hopefully help our justice system prosecute cases of coercion itself.”
Former Garda Moody was sent to jail this week after prosecutors agreed to a plea deal.
Ms Benson said there were a number of factors in the Moody case that influenced prosecutors’ decision to accept a deal, including the health of his victim, who is terminally ill.
But she added that the maximum five-year sentence for compulsory checks seemed low given the nature of the crime.
“It does make you think if there are plea deals, do we have to rely on multiple charges to get someone who checks compulsively to get a long sentence?” she said.
“Especially when you consider that other offenses such as physical assault and intimidation are factual evidence of compulsive control.
“If we had a higher penalty for compulsory checks, would that make the system more effective and easier, especially for next of kin?
“It’s something to think about, and it’s relatively early for legislation.”