​Co Fermanagh man accused of threat to cut off ex-partner’s fingers and toes

Prosecutors also claimed Gareth Parker knocked out the woman’s tooth and stated he would set her alight as part of a three-year campaign of violent intimidation.

On one occasion the 33-year-old accused declared in a phone call that she was going to be murdered, a judge was told.

Details emerged as he was granted bail under orders not to begin any new romantic relationship without informing police.

Parker, of Rosnarick Close in Derrygonnelly near Enniskillen, is charged with a domestic abuse offence, threats to kill, threatening or abusive behaviour and breach of a non-molestation order.

He also faces counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault against his former girlfriend.

Earlier this year the woman attended a police station claiming he had subjected her to abusive, controlling behaviour and physical attacks over a period stretching back to September 2022.

“She alleged he would call her names, threatened to cut off her fingers and toes and post them through her father’s letterbox,” Crown counsel Adrian Higgins disclosed.

Parker was accused of forbidding the woman from contacting her mother and carrying out two separate assaults.

During one incident in October 2024 he allegedly knocked out one of her teeth.

Twelve months later he threatened to set her alight before dragging her back into their house, according to the initial complaint.

The defendant also stated that he had burnt the woman’s clothes and photographs of her children, it was claimed.

In March this year she received a phone call from a withheld number in which Parker allegedly stated: “I'm going to murder you, you are dead.”

The woman has since moved home and changed her number to prevent him from finding out her whereabouts, the court heard.

Opposing Parker’s bail application, Mr Higgins submitted: “This is a person committed to domestic coercion and violence.”

The court heard, however, that his ex-partner withdrew her complaint in July and indicated a reluctance for the investigation to continue due to the impact on her mental health.

Craig Patton, defending, argued it was a change of circumstances after his client had spent more than five months in custody.

He also insisted Parker does not know the woman’s new address.

Mr Justice McAlinden branded the alleged offences as “appalling” and described domestic violence as a scourge in society.

But granting bail, he banned the accused from any contact with his ex-partner.

Parker must not start any similar relationship without notifying an investigating police officer who will have permission to inform that woman of his past, the judge further directed.

He added: “I will review this matter in six weeks time just to make sure he is behaving himself.”