Women’s Aid Statement on conviction of serving Garda for assault on his then partner
Friday, 16th January 2026: Women’s Aid today notes the suspended sentence of a serving Garda for the assault on his then partner, Margaret Loftus. We offer our solidary to Margaret whose courage and determination stands in stark contrast to the actions of her abuser and offers a sign of hope to other victim-survivors of domestic abuse.
Cases like this highlight the positions of unique power and trust that members of An Garda Sióchána occupy. They must always be held to extremely high standards in all aspects of their lives.
It is very important for women experiencing domestic violence and abuse, where the perpetrator is a Garda, to feel they can safely and confidently reach out to the Gardaí for help. There needs to be clear guidelines on how the Gardaí deal with this situation, and these guidelines need to be easily accessible to the public so that victims-survivors in these cases can be reassured and are not prevented from coming forward.
ENDS
NOTES
- Please attribute any quotes taken from this statement to Sarah Benson, CEO, Women’s Aid.
- For more information contact Christina Sherlock at 087 919 2457 or by email to christina.sherlock@womensaid.ie or Martina Genockey on 086 206 7766 or email martina.genockey@womensaid.ie.
- Support is available on the Women’s Aid 24hr National Freephone Helpline on 1800 341 900 or at www.womensaid.ie.
About Women’s Aid
Women’s Aid is a national organisation working to prevent and address the impact of domestic violence and abuse since 1974. They do this by advocating, influencing, training, and campaigning for effective responses to reduce the scale and impacts of domestic abuse on women and children and providing high-quality, specialised, integrated support services. See www.womensaid.ie