A man who breached his safety order and terrorised his heavily pregnant ex-partner has been released on bail.
John Paul McDonagh, of 24 The Green Ballymacool, Letterkenny appeared before Letterkenny District Court yesterday afternoon.
The court heard the 35 year old breached his safety order three times on the 8th, 11th and 14th of December.
On the 14th of December - McDonagh entered the property of his ex-partner who is eight months pregnant while she was asleep upstairs.
On that occasion he threatened her to remove the barring order she had against him.
Gardaí were called to the house but the defendant refused to come outside of the property - and was subsequently arrested.
At the Garda station - Mr McDonagh then asked could he use the mobile phone of Garda Shane Lavelle.
However, it didn't use it for a phone call, instead, he sent a text message to his ex-partner in which he wrote the word RAT.
By the time Garda Shane Lavelle realised what the defendant was doing it was too late and the text was sent.
The court heard how the defendant's ex-partner is absolutely terrified of Mr McDonagh and lives in constant fear of him.
The couple have one child together and are expecting a second child in the next month.
The court then heard about an incident involving Mr McDonagh on June 19th, 2015.
There was a disturbance at McNeely Villa's Oldtown Letterkenny and Garda Darren Carter attended the scene.
He found an extremely intoxicated Mr McDonagh at the scene and he acting very aggressive towards them.
Mr McDonagh threatened Garda Carter and said he'd hit him and put him to sleep for three weeks.
Solicitor for the defendant Patsy Gallagher told the court, "My client and his ex-partner had been in a relationship for a very long time.
"Unfortunately, alcohol had been a big issue in the relationship - and prompted the relationship to end.
"Mr McDonagh acknowledges it was totally unacceptable to do what he has done, and knows he has to adhere to the safety order or end up in the prison.
"He has agreed to return to Galway with his parents, who are present in court today.
"He won't return to Donegal, the only time he will come back here is for court dates, there is no reason for him to be here.
"I'll ask you judge to take into account three factors, one, his plea, two, his remorsefulness and finally his understanding that anything like this can never happen again."
Judge Paul Kelly said, "There is a serious risk here, and his ex-partner is absolutely terrified of him, he broke the safety order three times in quick succession.
"He also made a violent attempt for her to drop the safety order against him, and further intimidation against her continued right up until the 14th of December when he sent her that text message.
"I'm sentencing you to three months imprisonment and three months consecutive for the offences."
However, the defendant appealed the decision under recognizance and he was bailed to his family in Galway.