Vaidotas Gedvilas tried to smother his sleeping wife, doused her in barbecue fuel and set her alight while recording the attack, then choked her when she tried to escape. The Lithuanian national initially denied burning her until Gardaí showed him his own video. A judge called the attack vicious and savage and imposed five years of immediate custody.
The recorded attack
Overnight on 29 and 30 November 2024, after a party at the couple’s Mullingar home, Gedvilas put a cushion over his sleeping wife’s face. She fought him off with a bottle. He then retrieved barbecue fuel, knocked her down, poured it over her back and ignited it while recording on his phone.
She extinguished the flames by rolling on the floor. When she tried to escape, Gedvilas grabbed her neck and choked her for several seconds, knocked her down, kicked her limbs, pulled her hair and dragged her back inside.
Medical evidence documented fractured ribs, chest and lung injuries, burns over approximately four per cent of her body and extensive bruising.
His own footage overcame his denial
Gedvilas initially denied burning his wife and claimed she had tried to burn the house. Confronted with his recording, he acknowledged his voice while saying he could not remember. He later admitted the burning but maintained that he meant only to frighten her.
He pleaded guilty to assault causing harm and two offences of causing his wife to believe that she would immediately be suffocated or strangled. He was not convicted of attempted murder, and this file does not relabel the offences.
Long residence and sentence
Gedvilas is a Lithuanian national who had lived in Ireland for more than ten years and worked as a traffic-management supervisor. The available reports do not establish his exact arrival date or state whether he had prior convictions.
His wife asked the judge for leniency. The court also considered his guilty plea, employment, alcohol treatment and remorse. Judge Keenan Johnson nevertheless held that imprisonment was required. On 30 January 2026 he reduced a nine-year headline to six years and six months and suspended the final eighteen months for five years, leaving five years immediate custody.
No reported appeal, release, prisoner-transfer or EU residence proceeding was located.
Chronology
- More than ten years before sentence: Living and working in Ireland.
- 29–30 November 2024: Three-stage domestic attack.
- January 2026: Guilty pleas entered.
- 30 January 2026: Effective five-year prison term imposed.
- 25 July 2026: No appeal or transfer process located.
Cost benchmark
The five-year immediate term at the Irish Prison Service’s 2024 staffed-space average represents a gross capacity benchmark of €495,360. A simple quarter-remission illustration is €371,520.
Questions the State should answer
- What domestic-violence risk work is required before release?
- What supports and protective arrangements are available to the victim?
- Will a prisoner transfer or EU residence assessment be considered?
- How will the five-year suspended-sentence conditions be monitored?
- Was the €1,000 offered for a domestic-violence organisation accepted and recorded?