Former soldier jailed after firing shots at wife while she prayed

An ex-Irish solider has been jailed after bursting into a bedroom and shooting at his wife while she prayed.

Peter Walters, who was discharged from the army in 1987 on mental health grounds having shot and killed a man in combat while in the Lebanon in 1983, was sent to prison for four years.

Walters necked six bottles of whiskey and vodka in the hours before he terrified his then wife Theresa Walters at their home in Raphoe on May 17, 2021.

The 59-year-old shot blank bullets at a frightened Ms Walters, who told gardai: ‘I thought he wanted me dead’.

Military enthusiast Walters has a collection of replica guns that are used for war re-enactments. A destruction order was made by Judge John Aylmer, who sentenced Walters at Letterkenny Circuit Court on Friday.

Noting that an aggravating factor of the case was that the victim was Walters’ wife, Judge Aylmer said the offence constituted a ‘gross breach of trust’. The fact that the pair were in a relationship led Judge Aylmer to place a starting point for sentencing at seven years imprisonment.

Walters cooperated with the investigation and made admissions before entering a plea of guilty. Judge Aylmer said Walters’ difficulties with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcoholism were well documented to the court.

“PTSD arose from his experiences in the Lebanon and went untreated,” Judge Aylmer said. “That provides an explanation, but not an excuse.”

He said Walters has taken ‘significant steps’ to address his addiction to alcohol and has been abstinent since the incident in May 2021. Walters has attended White Oaks, Talk Therapy and Alcoholics Anonymous.

Judge Aylmer said: “It is noteworthy that he had been abstaining from alcohol for 12 years prior to this offence.”

The sentence was reduced to one of five years imprisonment and, to give credit for rehabilitation and to impress the need for further rehabilitation, Judge Ay;mer suspended the final 12 months of the sentence. Walters was ordered to abstain completely from alcohol and unprescribed drugs and will be placed under the supervision of the Probation Service.

Judge Aylmer said Walters must engage in trauma-informed therapy and enter a domestic violence programme.

Ms Walters arrived home having been involved in a road traffic accident when travelling back from visiting her sick daughter in Drogheda. When Walters got into bed, he was described as being ‘pissed drunk’. At 4am, he woke and filled a fresh glass of vodka.

The following morning, Ms Walters had her rosary beads out and was praying when Walters came into the bedroom. Ms Walters described ‘a big loud bang’ that was ‘deafening’ and the rosary beads flew out of her hands.

“She thought he was going to kill her,” Detective Garda John O’Sullivan told Ms Fiona Crawford BL, counsel for the State.

Ms Walters recalled how ‘his eyes were cold, like a cold-blooded killer and he was fixated on what he was doing’.

The woman bravely took to the stand to read a victim impact statement, recalling to Walters ‘that moment when you pushed open the bedroom door, stood like a soldier and pointed the gun to my face’.

“The nightmares still haunt me to this day,” Ms Walters said. “I have been in fear of my life until today. I can now face you and tell you that I will do my best to rebuild my life.”

Ms Walters told her ex-husband that she forgives him and said: “I hope you forgive yourself.”

The court heard that Walters was ‘obsessed with military history’ and had purchased the firearm on a visit to Normandy for a D Day Landing re-enactment.

Gardai rushed to the scene at Beechwood Avenue around 10.20am.

Detective Garda O’Sullivan recalled seeing Walters dressed in a blue dressing gown. Walters gestured at gardai ‘putting his hands up as if to ask what’s going on’, he said. Walters came to the front door and had a black M1911 pistol in his hand.

Detective Garda O’Sullivan shouted three times to Walters to drop the gun before Walters pulled the magazine from the pistol. Detective Garda O’Sullivan drew his own firearm and, rather than drop the gun, Walters removed the magazine and threw it back into the house.

“I was extremely concerned that he was trying to confuse me and made me think that his gun was empty,” Detective Garda O’Sullivan said.

Walters was given two further commands before gardai stepped in and arrested him. Detective Garda O’Sullivan said Walters’ face was ‘bloated, red and he appeared intoxicated’.

In a subsequent search of the house, gardai found a stash of weapons, including a Thompson submachine gun and a semi-automatic pistol and ‘other military items’. Three rounds of blank cartridges were located on a desk in a room marked ‘Peter’s computer room’ while blood staining was noted by officers.

In a locked glass display, which was covered by a curtain, gardai found an Uzi machine pistol and other blank cartridges. 

It was confirmed that all of the items found were legally held by Walters.

A ballistics test confirmed that the pistol Walters was holding when gardai arrived was ‘not capable of discharging bulleted ammunition’. Another 9mm calibre pistol located by officers was also ‘not capable of discharging bulleted ammunition’.

Walters was too intoxicated to be interviewed following his arrest.

“He told gardai that he blacked out and doesn’t remember anything,” Mr Peter Nolan BL, barrister for Walters, said.

In 1983, Walters was deployed to Lebanon on a US peacekeeping mission. During one nighttime attack by local militia on the Irish base, Walters, through a night vision scope, saw a fighter ready to attack with a machine gun. Walters shot and killed the man.

“He has been significantly traumatised by that,” Mr Nolan said.

Mr Nolan told the court that it is common for war veterans to suffer from such trauma. He said there was a ‘drink culture’ in the army at the time and alcohol took ‘hold’ when he began drinking heavily after leaving the army in 1987.

“He never received any treatment for his PTSD,” Mr Nolan said. “From that appalling situation in the Lebanon, where he shot another human being . . . from that day on, it has been like a cancer eating away at him.”

References on Walters’ behalf were given to the court by White Oaks and the Donegal Donkey Sanctuary, where the accused has previously been a volunteer. The reference described him as being ‘a driving force of the sanctuary’.

Mr Nolan said Walters’ guilty plea has saved the court considerable time and cost, noting that 41 statements were made in the case. Walters admitted owning the guns, which he explained were used for ‘re-enactments’ and said he had authority to have the guns.

The Probation Service deemed Walters as being of a moderate risk of reoffending and not suitable for community service.

Walters took to the witness box to apologise for the incident. “I apologise to her for the suffering and anxiety,” Walters said. “I am very sorry for it.”

Walters has seven previous convictions, four of which are for road traffic offences, while he has a previous conviction for an assault on a former partner.