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Irish Times
3 days ago
- Irish Times
Woman with black eye and newborn baby claims husband ‘kicked me and dragged me up and down'
A woman who had a black eye when she came to the emergency domestic violence court with her newborn baby claimed her husband 'kicked me and dragged me up and down'. Two other women who brought separate emergency applications under the Domestic Violence Act to the court at Dolphin House, Dublin, on Friday, also had babies with them. When Judge William Aylmer remarked on the first woman's black eye, she said her husband kicked her and dragged her up and down and was abusive many times during their long marriage. She had given him 'loads of chances' to change his behaviour but he had not. 'I don't feel safe. I've had enough.' READ MORE 'He reckons the drink and drugs make him do this.' He also blamed his behaviour on trying to deal with several suicides in his birth family, she added. Her mother had told her she needed to 'wake up' and stop tolerating her husband's abusive behaviour. 'I have to think of my own health and the kids. He needs to stop his pity party.' Judge Aylmer, telling the woman he agreed with her, granted her a protection order. In another case, a weeping woman with a baby got a protection order against the child's father. He 'gets very angry out of nowhere', 'never stops' and she has spent two months asking him to leave her apartment, she said. He had a 'meltdown' some days earlier when she took the baby from him before he had finished changing her nappy. The baby was hiccupping and she took her up because she feared the infant was about to vomit, she said. He 'gritted' his teeth, called her 'disgusting' and put his finger in her face. 'The look on his face, I got really scared.' She had permitted him to live with her for periods and he kicked her out on some occasions, she said. 'I slept in a hotel when I was nine months pregnant because he would not give me a break.' They had gone to therapy but he had not taken agreed actions to address his issues, she said. 'I have no problem him having a relationship with his daughter but our relationship is over. I can't be with him.' A woman with a baby and toddler got an interim barring order against her partner. She said he physically abused her previously and recently forced his way out of their home after pushing her away from the door when she confronted him about a suspected affair. He grabbed her arm, leaving her with bruises, and when she sought to stop him leaving, drove his car towards her, scaring her, she said. He has not returned home and had told a social worker he did not intend to, she said. A distraught mother who told the judge she is in fear and has 'lost everything' as a result of her adult daughter's drug addiction got a protection order against her. Her daughter, aged in her thirties, told her 'one side of my brain is telling me to stab and slice you and the other side is saying 'that's your Mammy''. Her daughter had been in a violent relationship and has children, all of whom are being cared for by other family members. 'God help any other family going through this.' She paid €3,000 to drug dealers for her daughter's debts and her daughter constantly pesters her for money, especially at night. 'She is getting worse and worse, the drugs have her destroyed, she'll be at it again tonight, I can't bear it.' After she spent almost €500 getting her daughter into a treatment unit, she was thrown out due to excess drugs in her system, she said. Another treatment appointment was fixed for later this year. 'It's destroying me, all we're doing is ringing places trying to get her help and we're getting nowhere.' When the judge said drugs are a 'demon' and many are in the same position, the woman agreed. 'I can see the little kids being destroyed, they are little 'gofers' for them.' She grew up in a large family, none got involved in drugs, she never drank and 'worked hard all my life to put food on the table'. Many people she grew up with were dead from drugs. In another case, the judge granted a fresh protection order to a woman who said gardaí found a meat cleaver, which she did not know was there, in a box in her home after her ex-partner had threatened to 'chop me up'. He had been diagnosed with a serious mental illness and accused her of having listening devices in the house, she said. She previously got a protection order against him but gardaí could not locate him to serve it. She last saw him in May and did not know where he was.
Irish Times
06-07-2025
- Irish Times
‘He has told me he will kill me and I believe he will do so,' wife tells domestic violence court
A distressed woman who alleged her husband punched her in the head and her foot was 'cut open' after he threw a glass object at her got an interim barring order against him. 'He has told me he will kill me and I believe he will do so,' the woman told the emergency domestic violence court in Dublin 's Dolphin House. Her husband grabbed her by the back of the head when she confronted him about having an affair, punched her in the back of the head and dragged her out of their house, she said. On other occasions, he threw candle holders and glass food jars at her, one of which cut her foot open when it smashed, she claimed. He smashed her watch and phones, threw her clothes and other possessions out of the house and damaged her car, the court heard. READ MORE Judge Gerard Furlong told the woman on Friday he would grant her ex parte – one side only represented – application for an interim barring order and returned the matter to next week. In another of about 20 ex-parte applications, a man got a protection order against his wife, whom he alleged is physically and verbally abusive to him, including hitting him with a mop while he was in the bath and scratching his neck with her nails. She has thrown food and cups of hot tea over him while he was lying down in bed, threatened to make him homeless and put down his dogs, threatened to get three men to kill him, and has sent abusive videos and phone messages, he said. She had said she would stab him to death when he is asleep, he claimed. He sleeps with his medication in his underwear because she tries to take it, he added. In another application, a father who said he is 'in fear for my life' from his adult son was granted an interim barring order against him. His son, aged in his 30s, is very violent, has psychosis and is constantly on drugs, he said. His son forced his way into his home after his recent release from prison, refused to leave, was constantly abusive and threatened to beat him. He immediately called gardaí but his son said they would not come 'for ages' and had told him, if he pursued a barring order, he would smash all his windows. The man said he has several health issues, the situation is causing him anxiety and fear but gardaí have been 'fantastic' in their response. 'They have inundated me with welfare checks. If I was younger, I'd love to be a guard.' In a different application, a woman said she and her husband had been advised by gardaí to leave their rented council home due to safety concerns. Her adult daughters have changed the locks and are facilitating a gang who want to store stolen material in the house, she said. She and her husband have been in bed-and-breakfast accommodation for some weeks now and do not want to go back to the family home due to fear, she said. She wanted to get her belongings from the house but was concerned to ensure her safety while doing so. Her daughters are not paying the rent – she pays it, but she cannot afford to continue as well as paying the B&B costs, she said. She wanted her daughters out of the house, which would facilitate her getting alternative emergency accommodation for which she has been approved. The judge said he would grant protection orders so the woman could retrieve her belongings, but he could not grant an interim barring order as the woman sought. This was not a domestic violence situation, he said, and gardaí would have to deal with the gang. As tenancy issues also arose, the woman could seek an injunction to get her daughters out of the house. He urged her to seek legal advice. Another woman who said she had lived in an abusive marriage for years, including being subject to bullying, financial abuse and body shaming, sought an interim barring order against her husband. She found out earlier this year he had a 'double life' with another wife and child, and since then he had been 'acting crazy', shouting and screaming at her and saying he was going to make her life 'unbearable', she said. She does not feel safe and is in constant fear due to her husband's deceit, the woman said. 'I don't want to die in this marriage.' The judge said the man's secret life was not a ground for an ex parte interim barring order, but he would grant a protection order and the woman could renew her barring application when both sides were represented. She could seek a divorce, he told the woman.
