Estranged wife testifies to alleged abuse by husband, a Manchester police officer 

MANCHESTER, NH – The estranged wife of a Manchester Police Officer testified for nearly 2 ½ hours Monday about her husband assaulting her, once when she was 37 weeks pregnant and again,  weeks after the birth of her daughter, which aggravated her recovery from a C-section.

Shannon MacNeilly testified that weeks after she gave birth, she and her husband, Officer Michael MacNeilly, had an argument.  She testified she said things that were rude, but didn’t recall exactly what she said.  She said MacNeilly threw or pushed her onto the couch with such force her feet were lifted off the floor.

“I was absolutely horrified,” she testified.  “I just cried. I just cried.”

Weeks earlier, on Aug. 20, 2023, MacNeilly had given birth to their daughter and that morning she had passed blood clots, although she testified they weren’t that bad. But after the shoving incident, she said, they “got a little worse” and her incision hurt.

As she spoke, she became tearful and asked for a tissue.  She dabbed at her eyes with it and composed herself. When asked by Attorney John Gasaway, prosecutor for the New Hampshire Department of Safety, if she needed a break, she said no.

MacNeilly, she said, took her cell phone and laptop and refused to give them back.  Eventually, he returned her phone.  She wanted to go to the hospital but MacNeilly told her no.

About 20 minutes after the incident, she said MacNeilly’s mother arrived at their home.  She told her what had happened and her mother-in-law told her, “My son would never do anything like that.”

MacNeilly is charged with six counts of simple assault that happened in their Ward Street home. Mrs. MacNeilly now resides there with their daughter, she said.  The couple filed for divorce.

MacNeilly testified to her husband slapping her in the face on Aug. 7, 2023, after she confronted him about a woman and an Instagram post; his shoving her into a couch, sometime between Aug. 27 and Sept. 9, 2023; MacNeilly grabbing her chin and pushing her head into a door on Sept. 27, 2023; hitting her in the mouth with a metal beverage bottle, bloodying her lip; and shoving her to the floor on Oct. 2, 2023.  He also is accused of criminal mischief for damaging her cell phone when he threw it against a wall and obstructing the report of a crime for blocking her cellphone to prevent her from reporting any criminal offense to law enforcement or request emergency medical attention.

The case was investigated by state police Investigative Services Bureau at the request of Manchester police.

MacNeilly, in court documents, maintains his innocence and contends his wife wants to destroy his career, the same thing her mother did to her father.  Attorney Eric Wilson told Judge Jared Bedrick they maintain Shannon MacNeilly’s accusations are “total fabrication.”

MacNeilly was arrested in April after turning himself in to authorities and was placed on paid administrative leave.  While New Hampshire State Police were conducting its investigation, MacNeilly had been working in dispatch.

His wife obtained a domestic violence petition in Family Court, resulting in a restraining order preventing him from possessing firearms.  Police took his service weapon from him along with 16 guns stored in a safe at his home.

The MacNeillys met in October 2022, married on March 31, 2023 and separated on Oct. 17, 2023.

At the time of the alleged abuse, Shannon MacNeilly did not file any police reports.  On Oct. 17, 2023, she and her husband had argued and she screamed when he came towards her.  MacNeilly allegedly called the police station and talked to a fellow officer to find out if anyone had reported an incident at their home.

Twenty minutes later, two police sergeants arrived on scene to find out what was happening.    MacNeilly testified she told the supervising officers that her husband had not assaulted her that day but he had in the past. That resulted in a police investigation which Manchester police later handed off to state police who brought the criminal charges.

She sought a restraining order in Family Court where she filed a domestic violence petition.  In it, MacNeilly said on Aug. 10, 2023, she was 37 weeks pregnant when MacNeilly slapped her in the face. On Aug. 30, 2023, she said MacNeilly, while holding their then 7-day-old infant daughter, threw a YETI aluminum water container from across the room and it hit her in the face. On Sept. 7, 2023, she said he shoved her so hard she fell onto the couch, “my C-section incision hurt and I asked to go to the Hospital and he said no, he took my keys, cell phone and laptop so I couldn’t call for help.”

On Sept, 27, 2023, she alleged he, while holding the baby in one hand, grabbed her by her chin with his other hand and pushed her head hard into the front door.

On Oct 2, 2023, she said he pushed her down on the kitchen floor and threw her phone over the bassinet “that our baby was sleeping in, it hit the wall and broke.”

In court documents, MacNeilly said it was his wife’s own behavior and her extreme cruelty that led to the breakdown of the marriage.

He said she threatened to falsify allegations of domestic violence against him “as her own mother vindictively did to her father” to gain advantage in their divorce case and “to ruin his police career, and damage his relationship with his child.”

MacNeilly also said that his wife told him she hopes he is shot and killed in the line of police duty.

He alleged she would wake him up in the middle of the night, sometimes by pouring water on him, for the purpose of threatening and emotionally abusing him.  He said she would rouse and accost him with baseless accusations of infidelity, and threaten to prevent him access to his daughter, citing his alleged infidelity and the justification to do so.

MacNeilly said his wife would threaten to take their daughter and leave him while he was asleep.  He said she would tell him he didn’t “deserve to sleep” because she believed he was cheating on her.  According to MacNeilly, she vindictively threatened to have sex with his friends and coworkers.

He also alleged that she isolated him from his family and friends and refused to attend family and social engagements.

He said her verbal harassment, physical abuse, and emotional manipulation has caused him extreme mental distress and physical effects.

“Shannon’s conduct in their seven-month marriage has caused Michael the highest levels of stress he has experienced in his lifetime, exceeding his experiences of combat in Afghanistan and patrolling the streets of Manchester,’ his then attorney James P. O’Rourke Jr. wrote.

The trial was continued to Sept. 27, 2024, at 8:30 a.m.  Shannon MacNeilly will resume testimony then.  Wilson said he expects cross-examination to take two hours.